Duro Ikhazuagbe
Egypt’s Mohamed Salah got close to receiving a perfect 34th birthday present yesterday in the Pharaohs’ opening Group G fixture of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Belgium in Seattle.
But a Mohamed Hany’s 66th minute blunder, under pressure from substitute Romelu Lukaku, turned into his own net a low cross by Thomas Meunier for Belgium’s 1-1 equaliser.
And so, Egypt continue to search for their first ever World Cup victory since 1934 when they started to participate in the Mundial.
The Pharaohs took the lead in the 21st minute through Al Ahly midfielder, Emam Ashour, who thundered a 20-yard strike into the bottom corner past Thibaut Courtois. He converted a through pass from Salah.
Egypt were backed by a passionate support base on the USA’s west coast
After going ahead, they nearly doubled their lead before the break when Mostafa Zico’s drilled strike across goal was tipped behind by Belgium keeper Courtois. Salah also had a second-half header well-saved by Courtois and goalscorer Ashour failed to hit the target on the rebound.
Belgium manager, Rudi Garcia, introduced the Red Devils’ all-time leading goalscorer Lukaku in the 66th minute – and seconds later his presence spooked Hany into his error.
A few minutes before the equaliser, his club team-mate Kevin de Bruyne had struck the outside of the post from a free-kick as Belgium started to take control.
The seven-time African champions Egypt spent the final moments holding on and managed to avoid defeat at a World Cup for only the third time.
Despite being record seven-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, Egypt have a poor record across their previous three World Cup appearances, and have now failed to win any of their eight games since their debut 92 years ago.
RESULTS
Côte d’Ivoire 1-0 Ecuador
Sweden 5-1 Tunisia
Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
Belgium 1-1 Egypt
*S’Arabia – Uruguay
TODAY
Iran v New Zealand (2am)
France v Senegal (8pm)
Iraq v Norway (11pm)
