Three Key Duels As Harambee Stars Tackle The Pharaohs

The Kenyan National Team Harambee Stars will kickstart their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a trip to face the record champions Egypt in Cairo. The Pharaohs will be without their most influential player in Mohamed Salah after the winger was ruled out of the match with an ankle injury.

Below, we look at the key battles in the match..

Victor Wanyama V Mohamed Elneny

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The two midfielders were North London rivals up until Elneny made his loan move to Besiktas from Arsenal. Victor Wanyama is Kenya’s skipper and will be tasked with preventing the Egyptian midfielder from dictating the tempo of the match.

Elneny can be crafty when afforded space and time to operate while Wanyama is the ultimate defensive midfielder, good in the tackle and a press machine. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top between these two.

Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet V Eric Ouma

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Mahmoud Trezeguet was a success in this year’s Africa Cup Of Nations Tournament and was rewarded with a move to English Premier League side Aston Villa. He is pacy with the ball, can cross and is exactly the kind of winger that full-backs hate to defend against.

Eric Ouma will need to be at his absolute best to keep the lively winger quite for the entire match. His concentration will be vital as one lapse could see him lose the tricky Aston Villa man which could likely end in disaster for Harambee Stars.

Ahmed Hassan Kouka V Joseph Okumu

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With Salah out with an Injury, the SC Braga forward will most likely be Egypt’s main threat alongside the aforementioned Trezeguet. Tasked with dealing with his threat will be the young center back Joseph Okumu.

Okumu made a costly mistake in his last outing against Mozambique that led to the only goal of the match. The former Chemelil defender cannot afford such errors against Kouka.

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