Egypt got off to an emotional start in the Africa Cup of Nations. The record holders spectacularly turned around a 0-1 deficit against Zimbabwe. Led by their two top strikers, Omar Marmoush and Mohamed Salah, Hossam Hassan's team laid the foundation for reaching the round of 16. Benin only narrowly lost their first group match against DR Congo and even reached the quarterfinals in 2019. The challengers' attacking game is limited and was one of the weakest in the group stage. Despite being favorites, Egypt displayed a disciplined defensive performance in previous matches. Both nations last met in the AFCOn group stage in 2010. At that time, Mohamed Salah was not yet part of the national team. Egypt won comfortably, as they had in the two previous encounters, beating Benin 2-0 without conceding a goal.