The Egyptian national football team bid farewell to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after losing to Brazil by a narrow margin of 1-0 on Saturday. The Egyptian team failed to continue their relatively good run, which had taken them to the quarter-finals, while Brazil advanced to the semi-finals.
The only goal of the match was scored by Matheus Cunha in the 37th minute with a shot from inside the box, following a pass from his teammate Richarlison, the Everton forward. The two teams had met in a friendly match in Cairo on November 17, ending with a 2-1 victory for the hosts.
Egypt's head coach Shawky Gharib made one change to the lineup that started against Australia in their last group stage match, bringing in Ammar Hamdy instead of Salah Mohsen. For Brazil, Douglas Luiz returned to the lineup after missing the win over Saudi Arabia due to a red card received in the match against Ivory Coast, replacing Matheus Henrique.
Egypt ended the first half without any shots on target. Brazil began the second half where they left off and nearly scored a second goal through Cunha, whose low shot was turned into a corner by goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy in the 47th minute.
Gharib brought on Mohsen and Imam Ashour in place of Ahmed Yasser Rayan and Karim El-Iraqi in an attempt to energize the midfield and attack. It wasn't until the 70th minute that Egypt registered their first shot on target against Brazil through Mohsen, but his effort was easily caught by Santos.
As the match approached its end, Egypt pressed for an equalizer but posed little threat to the goal, with the best chance being a powerful long-range shot from Mohsen that Santos collected in the 87th minute.
