Egypt face off against neighbors Sudan in a Group D matchup at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday in Yaoundé. The Pharaohs are in second place following their 1-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau with a win or draw clinching their spot into the Round of 16. Against Sudan a win is expected for Egypt, who will be facing a young team that is rebuilding but has nothing to lose on Wednesday.
Carlos Queiroz, manager of Egypt, is under plenty of pressure due to the lack of quality and dominance in his team’s recent performances. However, Sudan is a team that Egypt has enjoyed plenty of success against including a 5-0 dismantling in December at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup. That Egyptian side did not include its European-based players and a comfortable win is expected because Sudan cut multiple veteran players from the team that participated in the competition in Qatar. Queiroz will be dealing with multiple absences related to injury, particularly in the defense with starting full backs Akram Tawfik and Ahmed El-Fatouh unavailable. Every option is available in attack, however, and it is expected that Trezeguet will get another chance to start after struggling in his first match back against Nigeria following a long injury layoff.
The Sudanese team did well to earn a draw against Guinea-Bissau in their opener but never threatened the Super Eagles of Nigeria in their 3-1 loss. However, an optimistic mindset has prevailed in the Sudanese camp and the team will be ready to perform at their best against a slumping Egypt side. Due to both countries being founding members of CAF, there is plenty of history between the neighbors with Egypt winning thirteen of the twenty meetings between the teams and Sudan winning twice. Sudan manager Burhan Tia stated that his team will be playing to win but the Falcons will be missing influential center back and captain Salah Nemer.
Links are below with the pre-match comments and team news for both teams.
