MATCH FACTS: Hosts Egypt look to get back to winning ways against Zambia
Hosts Egypt will look to get back to winning ways when they take on Zambia in their third TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations Group A game at the Suez Canal Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 21:00 local time / 18:00 GMT).
Egypt beat South Africa 1-0 in their pool opener but then lost 4-1 to Sierra Leone. Zambia played to a 0-0 draw with the West Africans in their only game to date.
Egypt and Zambia will meet at the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 AFCON for a third time. Zambia have won both of the sides’ previous two meetings.
They were in 2007 when Zambia, after losing their first group game against Nigeria, defeated Cameroon in their second game and Egypt in their third group match to progress to semi-finals along with Nigeria. Egypt were eliminated along with Cameroon.
The last meeting between the teams came in 2017 in their final group game. Zambia, the tournament hosts, won 3-1 in Lusaka.
Zambia are facing a host nation for the third time have lost both their previous games. They lost 3-1 to Ghana in the 1999 semi-finals and 2-1 to Nigeria in their final group game in 1995.
EGYPT FACTS
· The 4-1 defeat to Sierra Leone was Egypt’s heaviest loss against a tournament debutant.
· Egypt have now won just one of their last eight group-stage matches at the finals (D3 L4), with that lone win coming against South Africa in their opener.
· This is the second consecutive tournament in which Egypt, as hosts, have conceded four goals in a match. In 2023, they lost 4-0 to Senegal in their final group game.
· Across three tournaments as hosts, Egypt have recorded just one win in seven group games (D3 L3), which came against South Africa in the current finals.
· Despite the loss to Sierra Leone, Egypt matched their opponents with seven shots on target.
· Egypt have scored in both of their group games at the current finals. In contrast, they failed to score during the group stage in 2023.
· The last time Egypt scored in three consecutive group-stage games was in 2013, when they beat Ghana 2-1 and recorded 1-0 wins over Algeria and Benin.
· Egypt have lost their third group-stage match in each of the last two tournaments: 3-1 to Zambia in 2017 and 4-0 to Senegal in 2023.
· They have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven finals matches, which came in their 1-0 win over South Africa.
· In their loss to Sierra Leone, Egypt completed 396 passes. Ahmed Boustenji led the team with 49 accurate passes in that match – the most by any Egyptian player.
ZAMBIA FACTS
· Zambia started the tournament with a 0-0 draw against Sierra Leone, marking the second consecutive finals in which they have drawn their opening match.
· They are now winless in their last four tournament games, having drawn one and lost two in 2023.
· If they fail to win their next match, Zambia will go winless in their opening two group-stage games for a second straight tournament – in 2023, they drew 1-1 with Benin and lost 2-0 to Gambia.
· The 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone was Zambia’s first goalless draw in the tournament since 1999, when they also drew 0-0 with Nigeria. Their 18 previous matches at the finals had all featured goals.
· Zambia have not won a group-stage match outside their home country in their last seven games across the 2025, 2023, and 2015 editions (D2 L5).
· Their last group-stage victory on foreign soil came in 2007, when they beat Egypt 3-0.
· Since the competition adopted its current format in 1991, Zambia’s record in second group-stage matches is: P8 W4 D1 L3.
· Zambia have won their second group-stage match in three of the last five tournaments they’ve played in, defeating Guinea (1999), Cameroon (2007), and Mali (2017). They lost their second match in 2015 (vs Ghana) and 2023 (vs Gambia).
· They have twice scored six goals in a second group-stage game: beating Guinea 6-2 in 1999 and Mali 6-1 in 2017.
· Despite having four shots on target in their opener against Sierra Leone, Zambia failed to score.