The second round of matches at the Paris 2024 Olympics will see Uzbekistan taking on Egypt at Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau on Saturday afternoon.
The White Wolves lost their opening match of the competition to Spain, while the young Pharaohs played out an underwhelming goalless draw against the Dominican Republic.
Match preview
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While Uzbekistan may have suffered defeat in their first match of the Games, they won over the hearts of many neutrals, as they left everything out on the field against the heavily fancied Spaniards.
Their performance was a clear illustration of the upward trajectory of the nation's football in recent years. They earned their first-ever Olympics qualification by reaching the final of the Under-23s Asian Cup and their senior side has a genuine chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Against La Roja, Marc Pubill opened the scoring after 23 minutes before Uzbekistan's talisman Eldor Shomurodov equalised from the penalty spot before half time, but Sergio Gomez re-established Spain's lead in the second half.
Timur Kapadze's side have now scored at least once in each of their last 13 matches in all competitions and an early goal here will certainly make it interesting given Egypt's relatively blunt performance in their opening game.
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The young Pharaohs began their Olympic journey with a disappointing goalless draw against the Dominican Republic here in Nantes in their opening Group C match on Wednesday.
Despite numerous opportunities to secure the victory, the Egyptian side failed to impress throughout the 90 minutes against an opponent savouring their inaugural Olympic appearance.
The result could have been worse for Egypt when Peter Gonzalez seemed to score in the 13th minute, but the referee disallowed the goal due to a prior foul against Egypt defender Hossam Abdel-Maguid. Shortly after, Omar Fayed cleared the ball off the line, preventing the Dominican Republic from taking an early lead.
Rogerio Micale's side now hold the second spot in the group with one point, trailing behind Spain. They will need a positive result here or they could find their qualification hopes in serious jeopardy as they are set to face La Roja in the final match of the group next week.
Team News
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Given their performance against Spain, it would not come as a huge surprise if Kapadze opted to name an unchanged starting 11 for this weekend's matchup against Egypt.
Shomurodov will almost certainly continue to lead the line alongside Persepolis attacker Oston Urunov, while Jasurbek Jaloliddinov is expected to operate in the number 10 role.
With Liverpool refusing to release Mohamed Salah and Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed nursing a knee injury, Micale will need Zamalek midfielder Ahmed Sayed and Mohamed Elneny to guide this squad through this tricky fixture.
Bilal Mazhar replaced Osama Faisal for the final 25 minutes last time out and the former could receive the nod to lead the line from the off this weekend.
Uzbekistan possible starting lineup:
Nematov; Mirsaidov, Khamraliev, Khusanov; Yuldashev; Buriev, Kholmatov; Fayzullaev, Jaloliddinov, Odilov; Shomurodov
Egypt possible starting lineup:
Alaa; Fayed, Eid, El Debes, Tarek; Elneny, Shehata, Kamal; Adel, Sayed, Mazhar
We say: Uzbekistan 1-1 Egypt
While Egypt enter this match as marginal favourites, their performance in the opening match was far from convincing and we feel Uzbekistan may just be able to snatch a share of the spoils in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
