The greatest sports spectacle on the planet, the FIFA World Cup, will officially kick off on Thursday, June 14 with hosts Russia opening the tournament against Saudi Arabia, and you can enjoy all the action at MyBookie Sportsbook. Besides the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremony, the first day of the tournament is always a quiet one. We always get just one game on Day 1, with the host nation getting the ball rolling. The real fun begins on Day 2 as we head into what is going to be a jam-packed weekend. The second game in Group A will start the day on Friday morning, with 2018 World Cup Odds favorite Uruguay taking on Egypt in what is a very interesting looking match-up.
The South Americans are sure to be heavily favored here, especially when you consider that Egypt may well be starting their run without the services of Mo Salah. Matchday 1 in each group tends to be a little tentative, as no-one wants to lose their opening game and put themselves behind the 8-ball early on. This may be different, as Uruguay may well see this as an opportunity to put a weaker team to the sword.
Uruguay has won 8 of their last 9 games, keeping their opponents off the board in 6 of those games. This is a group that you would expect Uruguay to have no issue getting out of, so I’m not so sure that they are going to commit to all-out attack in the opener. The goal here will be simple, and that will be to go in, be efficient, and walk away with the 3 points.
Egypt vs. Uruguay Game Preview & 2018 World Cup Odds
I wear these for 100 million Egyptians.@adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/lpbW4b04Mh
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) 12 de junio de 2018
- When: Friday, June 15 at 8 AM EST
- Where: Yekaterinburg Arena, Yekaterinburg
- TV: FS1
- Radio: TuneIn
- Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
- 2018 World Cup Odds: Uruguay -169 (Over/Under at 2 goals)
Why bet on Egypt?
All the focus on the Egyptian camp at the moment is on the health status of Mo Salah. This is a very different team with him in the line-up, as they suddenly have a legitimate scoring threat leading the offense when he is fit and healthy. The biggest problem for Egypt, beyond the Salah situation, is that they have just not been very good when playing anywhere other than at home. They are certainly not entering this tournament on the best run of form, going winless in 5 games and failing to score in 3 of those matches. The Egyptians tend to favor a more defensive style of football, and you can expect that they will be looking to keep things tight in the opener. If they can get a point out of this game, they will likely consider it to be a huge success.Possible Line-Up
- 1-Essam El Hadary
- 7-Ahmed Fathy
- 13-Mohamed Abdul Shafy
- 6-Ahmed Hegazi
- 2-Ali Gabr
- 19-Abdalla El Said
- 8-Tarek Hamed
- 17-Mohamed Elneny
- 22-Amr Warda
- 9-Marwan Mohsen
- 10-Mohamed Salah
Why bet on Uruguay?
Uruguay qualified for Russia in a bit of a canter, finishing second behind Brazil in CONMEBOL qualifying. While much of the focus on this team is sure to be on their attacking pair of Suarez and Cavani, we should also not forget that they are very solid on the defensive side of the field.
Uruguay has won 8 of their last 9 games, keeping their opponents off the board in 6 of those games. This is a group that you would expect Uruguay to have no issue getting out of, so I’m not so sure that they are going to commit to all-out attack in the opener. The goal here will be simple, and that will be to go in, be efficient, and walk away with the 3 points.
Possible Line-Up
- 1-F. Muslera
- 16-M. Pereira
- 22-M. Cáceres
- 3-D. Godín
- 2-J. Giménez
- 15-M. Vecino
- 10-G. De Arrascaeta
- 8-N. Nández
- 6-R. Bentancur
- 9-L. Suárez
- 21-E. Cavani
