Egypt U23 vs Spain U23 Predictions

• Spain have a vastly experienced squad with a number of players who featured at Euro 2020 in their travelling party.
• Of the 22 members of the Egypt squad, 21 play their club football in homeland.

Egypt no match for tournament favourites Spain

Spain enter the 2020 Olympics as the favourites to win the gold medal and they should be able to make a real statement of intent with a comfortable win over Egypt in their opening match on Thursday.

La Rojaita have easily the strongest squad on paper going into the tournament. La Roja have selected Dani Olmo, Unai Simon, Pau Torres and Pedri – who all featured heavily as Spain reached the last four at Euro 2020 – in their squad and none of those stars have taken any of their overage spots.

In contrast, Egypt look a little lightweight and 21 of their 22 squad members play their club football in their homeland, with the one exception being 30-year-old former West Brom defender Ahmed Hegazi of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad.

However, the North African nation should be well prepared for the competition having won the U23 AFCON tournament in 2019.  Since then, Egypt are unbeaten in four games with three wins and a draw – including an eye-catch win over Brazil last year in Cairo.

Spain and Egypt have been drawn in what looks a competitive Group C alongside Argentina and Australia and the young Pharaohs side shouldn’t be written off in terms of qualifying, but the quality of the Spain squad simply cannot be ignored here and we’re expecting a convincing win for the Europeans.

We’re backing Spain to come through with a -1 handicap, while 4-0 appeals in the correct score market as that is traditionally the point a team will ease off.  Admittedly, the senior Spanish side weren’t particularly prolific at Euro 2020 and we feel the youngsters will want to make a mark in Japan – as those senior striker spots will be up for grabs when the World Cup rolls around in 2022.