Egypt vs South Africa Prediction & Betting Tips (26 December)

Egypt was scared on Monday when it entered the African Cup of Nations. Led by the score for a long time, this team with 7 victories in this competition ended up reversing the situation and winning thanks to its two stars Marmousch and Salah during one of a meeting which they largely dominated overall. This success allows the Pharaohs to be able to consider the future more calmly and this shock for 1st place in this group. In order to validate their qualification for this edition, Egypt finished at the top of its qualifiers ahead of Botswana, Mauritania and Cape Verde then continued in the qualifiers for the World Cup by beating Bukina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia and Djibouti. In preparation, the 35th nation in the Fifa ranking was able to get the better of a weakened Nigeria 2-1.

Opposite, South Africa carried out a great operation last Monday in defeating Angola 2-1 in a rather competitive game at the result of which she ended up taking the 3 points. Following this success, Bafana Bafana therefore took the reins of the ranking in company of Egypt and they could therefore ensure their qualification if successful today. During the qualifiers, the 61st team in the Fifa rankings took the lead over Uganda, Congo and South Sudan then did it again during the qualifiers for the World Cup by beating Nigeria, the Benin, Lesotho, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. During its preparation, South Africa was able to gain confidence by winning against Zambia during a 3-1 friendly match in November then against Ghana B 1-0 a few days before the start of the tournament. 

The real leader of this Egyptian team, the formidable Mohamed Salah (108 salts, 62 goals) played his role of X factor perfectly on Monday by scoring the winning goal in added time. A few minutes earlier, it was the very interesting Marmoush (41 goals, 9 goals, Manchester City) who was able to equalize. Also present is the experienced Mostafa Mohamed (55 selections, 14 goals) who is well known in France since he plays for FC Nantes. The other executives of this team play in the country or in the Gulf championships like the excellent Trezeguet (Al Ahly, 87 sel, 22 goals). Let us remember, however, that the centenarian Mohamed Elneny (ex Arsenal, 105 sels, 8 goals) and the experienced El Solia (54 sels) and Afsha (24 sels, 6 goals) were not called up while the defenders Ahmed Hegazy (Neom, ex-WBA, 88 sels) and Mohamed Abdemonem (Nice, 33 sels) had to withdraw from this competition. Like his Egyptian counterpart, Hugo Broos relied mainly on players from the local championship to compose his list. A large part of the players called up moved to teams like Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates in particular.

Among the players who went to try their luck in Europe, we can cite defenders Ngezana (FCSB) and Smith (Queens Park Rangers), midfielder Sithole (Tondela) and formidable striker Lyle Lyle Foster (Burnley), author of 9 goals in 21 caps. He also gave victory to his team on Monday evening by landing a beautiful shot which landed in the Angolan top corner. Before that, it was the promising Appollis (20 salts, 6 goals) who was able to open the scoring. On the other hand, the captain Zwane (51 selections, 12 goals) did not receive an invitation to the tournament. The same goes for defender Thapelo Morena (3 goals in 33 games) and the attackers Hlongwane (18 caps, 4 goals, Minnesota United) and Mayambela (16 selections, 2 goals, Aris Limassol). The former star of selection, Percy Tau (15 goals in 46 seasons) and the former Strasbourg Mothiba are not there either. 

• Summary: Egypt is going head to head with South Africa starting on 26 Dec 2025 at 15:00 UTC at Stade Adrar stadium, Agadir city, Morocco. The match is a part of the Africa Cup of Nations, Group B .
• Egypt Feedinco Rating: 7.07
• South Africa Feedinco Rating: 6.98