Egypt vs Dominican Republic Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Men’s Football | Group Stage
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In what is a tough yet open group along with Spain and Uzbekistan, both Egypt and the Dominican Republic will see this opening game as a major opportunity to kick on and push through into the knockout stages of the Olympics.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 24th July, 2024, UK – 4:00pm / US ET – 11:00am / US PT – 8:00am
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
EGYPT PREVIEW: INEXPERIENCED EGYPTIANS
Coached by former Brazil U20 and U23 coach, who coached Brazil to their first ever Olympic gold medal back in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Rogerio Micale, Egypt are reliant on Micale for their experience at this tournament. Mohamed Elneny is their captain in midfield but he is one of just two, as well as Ahmed Sayed, overage players in their squad this summer.
Of their 22-man squad, only two players, Elneny and Panathinaikos’ Bilal Mazhar, play outside of the Egyptian Premier League. They endured a fairly disappointing WAFF U23 Championship earlier this year whereby they were beaten by Australia in the semi-finals before missing out on finishing third to Saudi Arabia in the playoff.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PREVIEW: THE IBAI GOMEZ FACTOR
At just 34-years-old, former Athletic Club player Ibai Gomez is currently in charge of both the Dominican Republic U23 side and famous Basque club Arenas Getxo - where he will take charge on a permanent basis after the Olympics this summer. Ibai Gomez did come through the ranks at Athletic when Marcelo Bielsa was in charge so it wouldn’t be too much of a leap to guess his tactical plan.
Like a lot of nations in recent years, the Dominican Republic has focused on getting dual-nationals to eventually declare for them. An example of that would be two of their overage players, Junior Firpo and Heinz Morschel, both played youth team football for Spain and Germany respectively. There is perhaps more quality in their squad than is perceived.
EGYPT VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PREDICTION
In what appears an open group with Uzbekistan alongside Spain, both Egypt and the Dominican Republic will believe an opening match victory stands them in good stead to squeeze into the quarter-finals of this tournament. Egypt have the experience of Rogerio Micale so will look to be assured in their play, whilst there is excitement over the personnel and potential style of Ibai Gomez’ Dominican Republic. It could well end up being an intriguing clash in which both teams scoring seems a good bet.
EGYPT VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
