FIFA World Cup 2018: 3 Things that went wrong for Egypt in their 0-1 loss to Uruguay
Egypt put in a heroic performance, but yet came out with nothing to show for it, as a 90th-minute header from Jose Maria Gimenez gave the South Americans the full points in their opening World Cup fixture.
Egypt were without their star player Mohamed Salah, who hadn't yet recovered enough from his shoulder injury suffered in the UEFA Champions League final last month.
We take a look at what went wrong for the Egyptians.
#1 Poor decisions in the final third
Egypt were spirited, and they showed confidence and swagger in their attacking play. The likes of Trezeguet, Abdallah El Said and Amr Warda got into promising positions several times, but they just could not find that quality in the crucial moments.
Diego Godin and Gimenez play for Atletico Madrid, where they have been drilled into putting their bodies on the line and defending their penalty area, and it was such quality that made life difficult for the Egyptians, who were found wanting.
They brought on Kahraba in the second half to bring some directness and pace to their attack, but while he did add pace, there was little by way of composure or quality on the ball, which made life really easy for the Uruguayan defence.
There was also no ability to pierce the Uruguayans from the midfield. Tarek Hamed in the first half, and Sam Morsy in the second did a fabulous job as destroyers, but the creativity was completely missing.
Mohamed Elneny had an off-day, and El Said was guilty of trying too many things when he might have been better served to keep things simple on the pitch.
The full-backs, Ahmed Fathy and Mohamed Abdel Shafy were absolutely fantastic in running up and down the pitch, and with their defensive duties, but they were found wanting with their crossing.
With the Pharaohs now needing at least 4 points to have a shot at qualification for the knockout stages, their attack could really do with some cutting edge.