A last-minute header from Jose Gimenez gave Uruguay a dramatic 1-0 win against a stubborn Egypt side in their tough Group A clash.
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Despite playing the full game without Mohamed Salah, Egypt more than held their own and produced a disciplined, well organised display to nulify most of their opponents' attacking options.
Luis Suarez had a difficult game with a number of missed chances, while Edinson Cavani had a couple of opportunities saved and also hit the post late on with a well-struck direct free kick.
Soon after, with the 90 minutes almost up, centre half Gimenez rose magnificently from a corner to power his bullet header into the corner of the net.
The goal really got Uruguay out of jail as they'd been slow and sluggish at times as they struggled to break down a hard-working Egyptian side.
The result saw Uruguay move to 4/7 favourites to win Group A, while Egypt are out to 100/30 to qualify. Russia face Egypt next up on Tuesday with Uruguay taking on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Opta Stats
- Uruguay have won their opening match at a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1970, when they beat Israel.
- Egypt are still winless at the World Cup finals, failing to win five matches (D2 L3).
- José Giménez’s winning goal in the 90th minute was Uruguay’s latest winning goal in a World Cup match since Daniel Fonseca’s 92nd minute winner against South Korea in June 1990.
- Egypt have failed to score in each of their last three World Cup matches.
- African teams are winless in their last 19 World Cup encounters with South American teams (D4 L15) since Cameroon beat Colombia in June 1990.
- José Giménez has scored in consecutive appearances for Uruguay, also scoring in a friendly against Uzbekistan.
- Uruguay have won each of their last three World Cup group stage games with a goal scored in the last 10 minutes of matches.
- Three of Uruguay’s last four World Cup goals have been scored via headers – only three of their previous 22 World Cup goals had been headed.
- This was Oscar Tabarez’s 16th World Cup match in charge of Uruguay – only one manager has managed more matches for a South American country at the World Cup (Mario Zagallo for Brazil, 20 games).
- Oscar Tabarez became the fifth manager to take charge of the same country at four different World Cup finals (1990, 2010, 2014 and 2018), after Walter Winterbottom (England), Josef Herberger (Germany), Helmut Schon (Germany) and Lajos Bartori (Hungary).
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