Jose Maria Gimenez scored a glorious header in the 89th minute to give Uruguay a 1-0 win and three valuable points in Group A. Uruguay's performance was below-par as a youthful midfield struggled to create enough chances in the Egyptian defence, and Luis Suarez in a forgettable form.
Carlos Sanchez delivered a free-kick from the right flank in the dying moments of the match. Gimenez rose to the occasion, heading past the Egyptian goalie into the right corner of the net.
Trivia: Uruguay defender José Giménez has now scored in consecutive appearances for the national team.
The biggest cheers in the second match of the FIFA World Cup 2018 were reserved for a man who watched the entire match from the sidelines. But then again, he was the man for whom more than a million Egyptians voted to be their president when he wasn't even contesting.
The South Americans started in a 4-4-2 with Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani up front. The Barcelona man was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the match missing four genuine chances today.
The Pharaohs were doing just fine even without their star man though. Lining up in a 4-2-3-1, Egypt pressed tirelessly and were, in fact, tidy in possession. What let them down was their performance in the final third. But even wasteful in front of the goal were the men from Uruguay who had more chances but couldn't kick the ball inside the back of the net.
Trivia: Edinson Cavani was the top scorer in the South American qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, netting 10 goals for Uruguay, ahead of Messi.
With the clock ticking and the match moving to a goalless draw, Uruguay suddenly stepped on the gas. Cavani was the prime motivator, who cracked a volley from outside the box in the 82nd minute after a headed pass from Suarez but it was saved as excellently by the Egyptian keeper. Minutes later, Cavani's curling free-kick hit the post.
Both the teams were about to settle with a point but a Latin-American defender had other thoughts.
The decision to keep out their star man came back to haunt Egypt and a question lingers now: Should they have taken the risk? Also, their World Cup campaign has taken a hit and they would have to win against Russia in their next match to keep their Round 16 hopes alive. But from what Russia have shown in the opening match, that wouldn't be an easy affair either.
Trivia: This game ends a wait of 10,221 days for Egypt to play a game at World Cup -- the last was on 21 June 1990, when they lost 0-1 to England.