Egypt Ol. vs Dominican Republic Ol. prediction: WORLD: Olympic Games betting tips on match 2024-07-23 15:00.
[p]Having led his home nation Brazil to Olympic glory in 2016, head coach RogĂ©rio Micale is now dreaming of earning Egypt a first-ever medal. The African outfit have been unsuccessful in 12 previous attempts, with a pair of fourth-place finishes in 1928 and 1964 the best theyâve managed to date, but expectations are high as they head to Paris.[/p]
[p]Micaleâs squad contains the second-highest number of players plying their trade at club level in their home nation (15) across the entire tournament, including a combined quintet from CAF Champions League outfits Al-Ahly and Pyramids. Their qualification for this summerâs tournament came as runners-up at last yearâs under-23 Africa Cup of Nations, progressing into the final of that tournament without conceding a single goal![/p]
[p]Egyptâs 2024 campaign begins in Nantes against the Dominican Republic, who are Olympic football debutants having finished as runners-up in the 2022 CONCACAF U20 Championship. Los Quisqueyanos received a major boost when Leeds full-back Junior Firpo agreed to represent them this summer having previously donned a Spain shirt – the latest in a long line of dual nationals to have been persuaded to pledge their footballing allegiance to the Caribbean country in recent times.[/p]
[p]In stark contrast to their opening game opponents, just one of the Dominican Republicâs squad – Ăngel Montes de Oca – plays his club football in his home nation, and head coach Ibai GĂłmez is among the most inexperienced involved in the tournament. The Spaniard hadnât completed a full season in charge of Santutxuâs youth team when he was headhunted in February to oversee Los Quisqueyanosâ maiden Olympic campaign.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Mahmoud Saber has scored five times for Egyptâs U23s in 2024, with each strike arriving in the first half. Girona starlet Oscar Ureña is one of the youngsters being trusted by GĂłmez in this tournament having scored the decisive goal in the bossâ only victory to date – a 2-1 win over Paraguay in March (2-1).[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Egypt are unbeaten across their last eight outings inside 90 minutes (W5, D3), and have scored before half-time in five of those outings.[/p]