Senegal vs Egypt

Stade Me Abdoulaye Wade is the venue as Senegal and Egypt go head-to-head in the return leg of their mouth-watering 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off dawns.

Saliou Ciss’ unfortunate own goal fired Egypt to a pivotal 1-0 first-leg victory, handing Senegal a mountain to climb in the return leg in Diamniadio. ‘Les Lions de la Téranga’ can take some comfort in that they had held Egypt goalless in three consecutive H2Hs in all competitions before succumbing to a narrow defeat a few days ago. What’s more, Aliou Cisse’s men have won all three home matches in the ongoing World Cup qualifying cycle by an aggregate score of 8-1, prevailing by a 2+ goal margin on each occasion. Delivering action from the offset, Senegal have opened the scoring within 15 minutes in their last two World Cup home qualifiers, scoring precisely two first-half goals in each.

In the meantime, Egypt’s paltry goalscoring form continued in Cairo as they’ve now netted under 1.5 goals in their last 12 internationals across all competitions if considered just 90 minutes of play. Indeed, before Ciss’ first-leg own goal, the Egyptians had failed to get on the scoresheet in back-to-back competitive games. But the ‘Pharaohs’ will rely on their rock-solid backline to reinforce their bid to reach back-to-back World Cup finals for the first time in the nation’s history. Carlos Queiroz’s men have kept a clean sheet in six of their eight competitive fixtures this calendar year, including the last three in a row. Given that seven of those eight matches featured under 1.5 total goals, entertainment could be at a premium in Diamniadio.