Spain welcome Egypt in a last-minute friendly international at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium, as both national teams prepare for the World Cup in three months.
This fixture was originally scheduled to be played in Qatar but the recent situation in the region forced a venue change, and it all worked out great for Spain, who will not be doing any unnecessary travelling.
Form is certainly not a concern for Spain, who have suffered just one loss in a competitive match since March 2023, and that came in the Nations League final. And at home in Spain, La Roja haven’t lost since 2022.
The hosts’ performance in World Cup qualifying certainly makes them one of the favorites, having failed to advance past the Round of 16 in the last three tournaments. Spain finished the campaign undefeated, conceding only two goals in six matches, both in the final round.
Egypt had an interesting start to the year, having arguably underperformed at the Africa Cup of Nations, where they finished fourth.
Last week, they thrashed Saudi Arabia 4-0 in a friendly, and their goal will be to build momentum ahead of the World Cup, where they were drawn into a fairly favorable group.
How the bookies view it: Spain can't lost at home
The odds don’t surprise us, although 1/5 might be too big an advantage for the home team. But these are the odds we’ll see in most matches when an African nation plays one of the major European powers.
Accordingly, aside from 1/5 for Spain, you can take advantage of 6/1 for a draw or 11/1 for an Egypt win.
Recent head-to-head: La Roja won in 2006
Spain and Egypt have faced each other only once, in a friendly match in 2006. On that occasion, La Roja won 2-0.
Players to watch: Oyarzabal is preparing for the World Cup
If you watched Spain’s match against Serbia last week and most of the team’s qualification matches, you probably won’t be surprised when we suggest betting on Mikel Oyarzabal on Tuesday.
The Real Sociedad forward is in phenomenal form, and he’s also one of the three outfield players with the most minutes played in the qualifiers. He scored six goals and provided four assists in his six appearances, and last week he netted a quick brace against Serbia.
Backed a player to find the net? Check our Goalscorer Betting guide to see how the markets work and where to find value.
Probable line-ups
Spain: Raya, Heisen, Cubarsi, Grimaldo, Llorente, Zubimendi, Pedri, Pino, Olmo, Yamal, Oyarzabal
Egypt: El-Shenawy, Rabia, Ibrahim, Fathi, Hany, Ashour, Fattouh, Attia, Hassan, Marmoush, Mohamed
Anything else catch the eye?
The Egyptian team isn't bad at all and many of their players compete at the highest level in Europe. But they're still far from Spain's level.
Unless we see some bizarre rotations from Luis de la Fuente and last-minute experiments, we don’t see how La Roja won’t win this match without any trouble.
And given their exceptional defensive play in 2025, we don’t expect Egypt to score a goal in this match.
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