RELIVE: Egypt v Greece (Friendly)
Ahram Online, , Tuesday 27 Mar 2018
Ahram Online provided a live coverage of Tuesday's friendly match between Egypt and Greece amid the Pharaohs' preparations for the 2018 World Cup finals


Full-time: Egypt 0-1 Greece

90+3 The referee blows the final whistle. It's Greece one, Egypt nil.

90+3 A dangerous counter by Egypt ends up for nothing!

88' Torosidis replaces Bakakis.

84' Keeper Awwad keeps away a long-range free-kick but the ball eludes him to go out for corner.

80' Elneny and Bakestas booked following a scuffle between both.

79' Shikabala replaces Ramadan Sobhi.

74' Kourbelis comes in for Tachtsidis for the Greek side.

70' Lykogiannis replaces Stafylidis

69' WHAT A CHANCE! Kahraba one on one with the keeper fails to score from point-blank range!

65' Kahraba replaces striker Mohsen.

64' Gianniotas replaces Christodoulopoulos for Greece, as El-Said comes in for holder Ashour.

63' Keeper Awwad thwarts a dangerous header from isndie the area to avoid conceding a second goal!

59' Left-back Stafylidis breaks clear down the left handside of the area but his shot misses the target!

57' A 4 v 3 for Greece against the Egyptian defense but ends up with a tame strike towards keeper Awwad.

54' Pelkas booked by the ref following a lunge on Warda. Free-kick for Egypt.

48' Ayman Ashraf replaces the injured Gaber.

47' Substitute Bakestas sees his strike blocked by keeper Awwad.

47' Amr Warda and Hussein El-Shahat come in for Zakareya and Magdi.

46' Bakasetas and Barkas wheeled on for Greece instead of Donis and Gianniotis.

The second half begins.

45' The ref blows the half-time whistle.

35' Egypt still keeping the Greek backline free on the ball despite going one goal down.

29' Karelis heads in between two Egypt defenders following a cross from the left to put Greece upfront!

29' GOAL! Greece take the lead!

24' Egypt clearly lacking the spark provided by their regular attackers.

16' Egypt bossing possession now.

10' As we've always come to expect from Cuper, Egypt are defending in an organized shape.

6' What a chance!!! The Greek keeper denies a big chance from Zakareya inside the area!!

3' Greece's Karelis goes into the referee's book early on following a foul on Sobhi.

3' Greece controlling as Egypt, as ever, leave them with possession.

The match gets underway!

Starting lineups:

Egypt: Mohamed Awwad, Ahmed Elmohamady, Ali Gabr, Saad Samir, Omar Gaber, Hossam Ashour, Mohamed Elneny, Ramadan Sobhi, Mohamed Magdi, Moemen Zakareya, Marwan Mohsen

Greece: Andreas Gianniotis, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Dimitrios Pelkas, Alexandros Tziolis, Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Michalis Bakakis, Nikos Karelis, Giorgos Tzavellas, Anastasios Donis, Konstantinos Stafylidis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos

19:55 The national anthems are currently being played.

19:45 Hossam Ashour also gets the nod in midfield, where he is likely to be holder Tarek Hamed's backup player.

19:30 Enppi'sMohamed Magdi is also set for his first start under Cuper, where the former is likely to play in the no.10 position.

19:15Keeper Awwad will play for the first time under Cuper following an impressive season for club Ismaily.

19:00 Five players were left out of the match squad - goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawi, right-back Ahmed Fathi, defensive midfielder Tarek Hamed, winger Mahmoud Trezeguet and striker Ahmed Kouka. All of the five had featured in the loss to Portugal.

18:30Cuper has introduced nine changes to his starting XI, as he experiments with his fringe players.

18:00 The team is due to hold another training camp ahead of the World Cup as they will first play Kuwait then Belgium. A third match will be against South American powerhouses Colombia on 1 June in Milan.

17: 15 The Pharaohs have been placed in Group A along with hosts Russia, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

16:45Egypt reached the World Cup finals, which will kick off in Russia in June, after ending a 28-year old drought.

16:15 Stoke City's Ramadan Sobhi, Al-Ain's Huessin El-Shahat, Ittihad Jeddah's Mahmoud Kahraba and Los Angeles FC's Omar Gaber are all expected to get their chance against Greece after missing the Portugal test.

16:00 "The benefits we get from these friendly matches are much important than the results. It is important for us to see the whole 28-man squad (called for Zurich Camp) in the two friendly matches," he concluded.

15:50"There are two opinions inside the technical staff regarding who plays against Greece. Some call for a new squad and others asks for playing with the similar team amid testing some new options," Egypt assistant coach Osama Nabih told Egyptian sports website Filgoal.com.

15:20 Cuper, who faced European champions Portugal with his best lineup, could make some changes against Greece to put all players to test ahead of Russia trip.

15:10 "Our intention is clear to everyone, and we can compete with the heavyweight teams," added the former Inter Milan and Valencia coach.

15:00 "Such friendlies always improve your ability to face heavyweight teams," Cuper said. "No one wants to lose, but it was a tough lesson for the team that in the big games we have to make fewer mistakes.

14:45 "It was a game against one of the best teams in the world. We needed to test ourselves against world-class teams," he explained.

14:20 "The disappointment is that we lost in the final minutes of the game, but we benefited much from this meeting," Cuper said after the loss to Portugal.

14:00 On Friday, Egypt was on the verge of a famous friendly win against Portugal, thanks to a wonderful goal from Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, but Real Madrid's star Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in stoppage time to give his side a 2-1 comeback victory.

12:45 The Egyptians still have bad memories from their last encounter against Greece, having lost 6-1 in a humilating match back in 1990. Cuper's men are not driven by revenge, but instead are concerned with improving their performance ahead of the World Cup.

12:00 Egypt's coach Hector Cuper is expected to test new players in his squad when the Pharaohs face Greece on Tuesday in the second friendly match of the current training camp in Zurich amid preparations for the World Cup.



Stay tuned as match is due to start at 20:00 Cairo time (GMT+2)



Venue: Stadion Letzigrund (Zürich)

Referee: Fedayi San (Switzerland)

Check the match preview here

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