Argentina vs Egypt Prediction: World Cup 2026 Match Preview |
Opta Analyst
theanalyst.com
Will Argentina continue their FIFA World Cup defence or can Egypt do what Cape Verde came close to and bring their campaign to an end? Find out with our Argentina vs Egypt prediction and preview.
After Messi scored the opener against Cape Verde in the round of 32 on Friday, Argentina twice surrendered the lead before clinching a 3-2 victory when Cristian Romero’s header deflected in off Diney Borges.
That goal took the Argentina captain to seven for the tournament and made him the first player to score at least seven goals in two World Cups. However, Kylian Mbappé replicated that feat by converting France’s penalty winner against Paraguay in the last 16 on Saturday, joining Messi on seven goals in North America too.
Erling Haaland has also now reached seven goals in his very first World Cup tournament after his brace against Brazil set Norway up for a quarter-final clash with England.
Still, Messi will be hoping to extend his goalscoring streak and join Guillermo Stabile in 1930 as the only Argentina player to score eight goals in a single World Cup.
If the 39-year-old bags that goal against Egypt, he will become only the sixth player to score in their country’s first five games at a World Cup, joining Just Fontaine for France in 1958, Jairzinho for Brazil in 1970, Gerd Müller for Germany in 1970, Rivaldo for Brazil in 2002, and James Rodríguez for Colombia in 2014.
Argentina will hope Messi is not significantly affected by the extended minutes in the heat of Miami and the short turnaround between games.
Lionel Scaloni will be focusing on helping his players recover effectively. Facundo Medina went off with severe cramp against Cape Verde, while Enzo Fernández (cramp) and Nicolás González (ankle) struggled on to the end of the game due to no substitutions being available.
“In the final minutes, we had no substitutions, some players had cramps, and it was a matter of defending like a cornered cat,” said Scaloni.
“When you’re not playing well, you have to defend. The important thing is that we advanced, and we’ll correct our mistakes.”
Argentina have scored at least two goals in each of their last 10 World Cup matches and could join Uruguay (1930 to 1954) as the only nation ever to net twice in 11 in succession.
Their chances are enhanced by the fact Egypt have conceded nine times over their past six World Cup games. They have also scored eight in those matches, though. The only African nation to score and concede in seven consecutive outings at the finals was Ghana (2010 to 2022).
The Pharaohs booked their meeting with Argentina by overcoming Australia 4-2 on penalties after an uninspiring 1-1 draw, keeping their unbeaten record at the competition intact.
They are now aiming to become the fifth African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals after Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002), Ghana (2010) and Morocco (2022 and 2026).
Egypt had concerns about Mohamed Salah‘s fitness for the match against Australia due to a hamstring injury, but the star attacker completed the 120 minutes and converted a chipped penalty in the shootout.
Salah has created 16 chances at this World Cup and will match the record for an African player set by Kevin-Prince Boateng (18) for Ghana in 2010 if he creates two here.
Should the Pharaohs manage to pull off an upset against Argentina, a meeting with Colombia or Switzerland awaits in the quarter-finals.
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Their last meeting was a friendly in Cairo in 2008, with Argentina winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Sergio Agüero and Nicolás Burdisso. Messi missed the game due to injury.
Argentina are on an eight-game winning run against African nations at the World Cup, with two of those coming in this edition (3-0 vs Algeria, 3-2 vs Cape Verde). No side in the competition’s history has won three games against African opponents in a single edition before.
It is hard to see past Argentina in this match, with the defending champions having a 69.1% win probability inside 90 minutes, based on the Opta supercomputer’s 25,000 pre-match simulations.
Egypt managed to pull off a shock victory in 12.3% of the projections, with 18.5% ending in a draw that would result in extra-time again.
However, this is the shortest time between games for both teams and they had to come through an additional 30 minutes in the last 32, so fatigue and injury could have a major influence on the outcome.
Egypt: Mohamed El Shenawy, El Mahdy Soliman, Mostafa Shobeir, Mohamed Alaa, Yasser Ibrahim, Mohamed Hany, Hossam Abdelmaguid, Ramy Rabia, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Ahmed Fatouh, Karim Hafez, Tarek Alaa, Emam Ashour, Mostafa Zico, Hamdi Fathy, Mohanad Lasheen, Nabil Emad Dunga, Marwan Attia, Mahmoud Saber, Trezeguet, Hamza Abdelkarim, Mohamed Salah, Haissem Hassan, Ibrahim Adel, Omar Marmoush, Zizo.
Opta Analyst
theanalyst.com
Will Argentina continue their FIFA World Cup defence or can Egypt do what Cape Verde came close to and bring their campaign to an end? Find out with our Argentina vs Egypt prediction and preview.
Argentina vs Egypt: The Key Insights
- Argentina’s win probability is a massive 69.1%, according to the Opta supercomputer.
- The defending champions have won their last-16 matches at the previous five FIFA World Cups, with Italy the only ones to go out at this stage when they lost 2-0 to France in 1986.
- Egypt have scored (8) and conceded (9) in each of their last six World Cup games – only Ghana have a longer such run (2010 to 2022).
After Messi scored the opener against Cape Verde in the round of 32 on Friday, Argentina twice surrendered the lead before clinching a 3-2 victory when Cristian Romero’s header deflected in off Diney Borges.
Erling Haaland has also now reached seven goals in his very first World Cup tournament after his brace against Brazil set Norway up for a quarter-final clash with England.
Still, Messi will be hoping to extend his goalscoring streak and join Guillermo Stabile in 1930 as the only Argentina player to score eight goals in a single World Cup.
If the 39-year-old bags that goal against Egypt, he will become only the sixth player to score in their country’s first five games at a World Cup, joining Just Fontaine for France in 1958, Jairzinho for Brazil in 1970, Gerd Müller for Germany in 1970, Rivaldo for Brazil in 2002, and James Rodríguez for Colombia in 2014.
Argentina will hope Messi is not significantly affected by the extended minutes in the heat of Miami and the short turnaround between games.
Lionel Scaloni will be focusing on helping his players recover effectively. Facundo Medina went off with severe cramp against Cape Verde, while Enzo Fernández (cramp) and Nicolás González (ankle) struggled on to the end of the game due to no substitutions being available.
“In the final minutes, we had no substitutions, some players had cramps, and it was a matter of defending like a cornered cat,” said Scaloni.
“When you’re not playing well, you have to defend. The important thing is that we advanced, and we’ll correct our mistakes.”
Argentina have scored at least two goals in each of their last 10 World Cup matches and could join Uruguay (1930 to 1954) as the only nation ever to net twice in 11 in succession.
Their chances are enhanced by the fact Egypt have conceded nine times over their past six World Cup games. They have also scored eight in those matches, though. The only African nation to score and concede in seven consecutive outings at the finals was Ghana (2010 to 2022).
The Pharaohs booked their meeting with Argentina by overcoming Australia 4-2 on penalties after an uninspiring 1-1 draw, keeping their unbeaten record at the competition intact.
They are now aiming to become the fifth African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals after Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002), Ghana (2010) and Morocco (2022 and 2026).
Egypt had concerns about Mohamed Salah‘s fitness for the match against Australia due to a hamstring injury, but the star attacker completed the 120 minutes and converted a chipped penalty in the shootout.
Salah has created 16 chances at this World Cup and will match the record for an African player set by Kevin-Prince Boateng (18) for Ghana in 2010 if he creates two here.
Should the Pharaohs manage to pull off an upset against Argentina, a meeting with Colombia or Switzerland awaits in the quarter-finals.
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Argentina vs Egypt Head-to-Head
Argentina and Egypt will be locking horns in the World Cup for the first time.Their last meeting was a friendly in Cairo in 2008, with Argentina winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Sergio Agüero and Nicolás Burdisso. Messi missed the game due to injury.
Argentina are on an eight-game winning run against African nations at the World Cup, with two of those coming in this edition (3-0 vs Algeria, 3-2 vs Cape Verde). No side in the competition’s history has won three games against African opponents in a single edition before.
It is hard to see past Argentina in this match, with the defending champions having a 69.1% win probability inside 90 minutes, based on the Opta supercomputer’s 25,000 pre-match simulations.
Egypt managed to pull off a shock victory in 12.3% of the projections, with 18.5% ending in a draw that would result in extra-time again.
However, this is the shortest time between games for both teams and they had to come through an additional 30 minutes in the last 32, so fatigue and injury could have a major influence on the outcome.
Argentina vs Egypt Squads
Argentina: Juan Musso, Gerónimo Rulli, Emiliano Martínez, Nicolás Tagliafico, Gonzalo Montiel, Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Facundo Medina, Nahuel Molina, Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Valentín Barco, Giovani Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Thiago Almada, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Julián Alvarez, Lionel Messi, Nico González, Giuliano Simeone, Nico Paz, José Manuel López, Lautaro Martínez.Egypt: Mohamed El Shenawy, El Mahdy Soliman, Mostafa Shobeir, Mohamed Alaa, Yasser Ibrahim, Mohamed Hany, Hossam Abdelmaguid, Ramy Rabia, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Ahmed Fatouh, Karim Hafez, Tarek Alaa, Emam Ashour, Mostafa Zico, Hamdi Fathy, Mohanad Lasheen, Nabil Emad Dunga, Marwan Attia, Mahmoud Saber, Trezeguet, Hamza Abdelkarim, Mohamed Salah, Haissem Hassan, Ibrahim Adel, Omar Marmoush, Zizo.
