Egypt, the hosts of the African Cup of Nations, should continue their winning start to the tournament by beating Morocco on Tuesday.
They got off to the expected flier by beating outsiders Libya 3-0, with Mido, the Spurs forward, contributing one of the goals. However, Egypt were less impressive defensively and escaped more than once after an unforced error.
The hosts will be pleased to have come through that opening game satisfactorily and can improve with the win behind them, although the expectations of their supporters will only increase.
Morocco, beaten 1-0 by the Ivory Coast in their opener, are an attractive side going forward but paid heavily in that game for the lack of a cutting edge.
Advertisement
The fixed-odds bookmakers have Egypt best at 10-11 (Paddy Power) with Morocco 15-4 with Stan James. The draw is generally 9-4.
However, a better bet may be a buy of the Egypt Win Index at 15.5 with Sporting Index — a market which awards 25 for a win and ten for a draw.
Although Egypt will find this tougher than the match against Libya, they boast one of the best forwards in the competition and Mido can make the difference.
Earlier in the day, Ivory Coast should be too strong for Libya, even in the possible absence of Didier Drogba, the Chelsea forward, who suffered a recurrence of a knee injury in their opening match.
The bookmakers are giving little away here, though, with Ivory Coast no better than 2-5 with Skybet. Libya are 9-1 with Bluesq.com, the draw 100-30 with Paddy Power.