Further reading
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Next up, the second game of the day in Group H. (ICYMI, the first was one for the books.)
Match report: Belgium 1-1 Egypt
Group G hotted up in earnest with presumptive frontrunners Belgium and Egypt opening their World Cup campaigns with a credible draw. A crowd of 66,775 watched on under the intense sun of the early North American summer, in a contest which warranted the contentious cooling breaks that have been universally adopted for this tournament.
The group’s headline clash was slated as a noon affair under a heat advisory in Seattle, with on-field temperatures of 30C (86F) and high, hazy clouds at kick-off. There was scarcely an empty seat to be found, forming a sea of red and white owing to the teams’ similar colours.
Egypt substitute Hamza Abdelkarim’s reaction
It was a good game for the whole team. We wanted the three points, we got one in the end, but we gave it our all. The whole atmosphere was great – thank you to our fans – and now we’ll focus on the next match.
We know Belgium have quality players but we can’t say whether it’s the easiest game or the hardest game in the group.
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The latest from the England camp
Bukayo Saka has admitted he is continuing to gamble on his fitness to play for England at the World Cup finals but said he “is ready to go” despite a nagging achilles injury.
The Arsenal forward came off the bench in England’s last warm‑up game against Costa Rica but the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, warned that Saka’s fitness is being monitored carefully. The 24‑year‑old player is believed to have picked up the injury during the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City in March and missed Arsenal’s next seven matches as a result. Since then, he has completed 90 minutes only once in five appearances and was substituted before the end of normal time in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Asked whether he agreed with Tuchel’s suggestion that he was not ready to play an entire match, Saka said: “I don’t want to say anything that goes against the manager. But what I would say between Mikel [Arteta] and Arsenal’s medical team and England’s medical team, since March they have managed me amazingly and helped me get back on the pitch and do what I can for the team. I am feeling better than I have felt for the last few months. I am ready to go.”
Saka acknowledged, though, that he has been playing through the pain barrier. “As players it’s the biggest gamble, especially if you’re not feeling your sharpest. You have the choice whether you don’t play or you put yourself out there knowing people are going to judge you the same.
A note on Belgium’s equaliser, something I missed at the time. It stemmed from a free-kick that was awarded for a foul on Youri Tielemans in the Belgium half.
Belgium stole 14 yards before taking the free-kick, and the BBC punditry team are discussing whether Egypt’s defence were caught cold. To be honest I think they just lost concentration, but that’s still pretty shoddy. Fourteen yards!
Full time: Belgium 1-1 Egypt
The impressive Mechele makes another important defensive intervention, ensuring Abdulkarim can’t reach a cross from the left in front of goal.
That’s the last action of an enjoyable match that really came to life in the last quarter. Emam Ashour thundered Egypt in front; the Belgium substitute Romelu Lukaku forced an own goal from Mohamed Hany within 30 seconds of coming on.
I wonder how many players have helped create a World Cup goal before they’ve even touched the ball.
90+4 min A free-kick from Tielemans is helped on imaginatively on the volley by Mechele. The ball brushes the roof of the net on its way down.
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90+2 min We’ve seen a replay of that penalty appeal. It was probably obstruction, and would have been a second yellow card for De Cuyper, but the contact looked outside the area.
90 min Mechele, stretching towards his own goal, makes a potentially goal-saving tackle on Abdelkarim. He and Courtois started to leave a boncing ball to each other, but Abdelkarim was coming on the blindside and when Mechele realised that he wisely took no chances.
Five minutes of added time.
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89 min: Egypt penalty appeal! Zizo goes down on the edge of the area, possibly inside, after running into De Cuyper. It’s hard at first glance to say whether it was a foul or even inside the box, but it looks like VAR have cleared it.
89 min: Double substitution for Egypt Karim Hafez and Ibrahim Adel come on for Hamdy Faty and Ahmed Fotouh.
88 min: Chance for Lukaku!
Raskin’s lovely cross from the right is headed over by Lukaku, eight yards out. That’s a very good chance, one that looks better with each replay, because he’d done the hard work by finding space and then getting up early to meet the cross.
You can understand if he’s a bit rusty, having hardly played all season for Napoli.
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86 min: Double substitution for Belgium Hans Vanaken and Matias Fernandez-Pardo come on for Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.
84 min The resulting corner eventually reaches Marmoush, whose crisp shot from the edge of the area is superbly blocked by the charging Mechele.
Both teams are going for this.
83 min An overhit cross from the left almost embarrasses Courtois, who has to backpedal and bundle it over the bar.
82 min: Good save by Shobeir
De Bruyne teases the free-kick into the six-yard box. Shobeir punches clear with authority, but seconds later the ball is dumped back into the box and Mechele plants a strong header back across goal. Shobeir moves quickly across his line and leaps to his left to palm it away. A bit of a camera-friendly save, but still a pretty good one.
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81 min Doku cuts inside from the left and is tripped by Hany. The free-kick is just outside the area, too wide for a shot.
78 min: Fine block! Egypt are haging on here. De Bruyne and Trossard combine to tee up Lukaku, whose rasping drive from 15 yards is heroically blocked by either Fathy or Ibrahim. Or possibly both.
De Bruyne created that opening with a gorgeous eye-of-the-needle pass to Trossard.
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76 min: Egypt substitution Zizo and Hamza Abdelkarim replace Ziko and Mo Salah.
That was a strong and selfless performance from Salah in the No10 role. He basically fed Marmoush at every opportunity, and it was his pass that set up Ashour’s goal.
75 min De Cuyper is booked for something or other. There’s a lot going on okay.
(Replays confirm he pulled back Ziko.)
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73 min Trossard hugs the touchline on the right and plays a brilliant square pass to the underlapping Meunier. He galumphs into the area and drives a low shot that is comfortably saved by Shobeir. Excellent move, slightly tame finish.
71 min: Egypt substitution Play resumes after Rami Rabia replaces the goalscorer Emam Ashour.
67 min Hydration break klaxon.
I thought Lukaku had scored but in fact it’s an own goal from Mohamed Hany. Meunier’s drove a really dangerous cross towards Lukaku, who was fighting with Ibrahim and Hany to reach it in front of goal. Ibrahim, stretching towards his own goal, unwittingly diverted the ball off Hany and into the net.
It’s not Lukaku’s goal but he played a big part in it – and he’d only been on the field for 22 seconds. It’s a lovely moment for a player whose last World Cup game was about as haunting as it gets.
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GOAL! Belgium 1-1 Egypt (Hany own goal 66)
Romelu Lukaku has made an instant impact!
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66 min: Belgium substitution Romelu Lukaku, 33, replaces Charles De Ketelaere. And…
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65 min For the umpteenth time, Salah plays a simple-looking pass that invites Marmouth to use his considerable pace. Marmoush cuts inside on the left of the area and hits a shot that takes a big deflection, .totally wrongfoots Courtois and spins not far wide.
The decision to play Salah as a No10 has worked really well for Egypt.
64 min That De Bruyne shot was Belgium’s first effort on target.
For now at least, De Bruyne’s monstrous strike against Brazil in the 2018 quarter-final remains his last World Cup goal.
62 min: Big chance for De Bruyne!
Belgium’s first corner of the game is taken by De Bruyne on the right. It’s headed away as far as Tielemans on the edge of the D; he hooks a sensational left-foot volley that whistles just wide with Shobeir scrambling across goal.
Seconds later, Meunier’s short cross is swept straight at the keeper by De Bruyne. He was 16 yards out and had to take it on the half-volley; while it wasn’t a sitter, peak De Bruyne would score that at least nine times out of 10.
61 min Doku goes over in the area after trying to zig-zag between Ibrahim and Attia. The referee isn’t interested. In the parlance of our time, Doku was looking for it.
59 min Salah plays a good ball up to Marmoush, all alone on the halfway line. He turns thrillingly away from Ngoy on the halfway line, charges all the way into the area and shoots wide under pressure.
The pressure was applied by Ngoy, who recovered very well after being left for dead on the halfway line.
57 min: Double substitution for Belgium Maxim De Cuyper and Nicolas Raskin replace Timothy Castagne and Amadou Onana.
55 min: Chances plural for Egypt!
Marmoush is superbly challenged in the area by Mechele. Egypt win the ball back on the left, where Fotouh (I think) curls an inviting cross into the middle. Salah’s downward header is slapped away by Courtois, a slightly weird save, and Ashour throttles the loose ball miles wide of the far post.
Salah’s was a decent chance; Ashour’s was huge.
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53 min: De Bruyne hits the post!
The free-kick is to the left of centre, just outside the width of the goal. De Bruyne wobbles a superb free-kick over the wall that hits the left-hand post and ricochets behind for a goalkick.
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52 min At the moment Doku is playing Egypt on his own. He wriggles away from Fathy (I think) and is fouled on the edge of the area. De Bruyne won’t take this free-kick short.
51 min Doku beats his man in the area and stabs a cross that is blocked at source.
Egypt have doubled up really well on Doku.
50 min Doku is fouled 30 yards from goal by his Manchester City team-mate Marmoush.
Their former team-mate De Bruyne is over the freee-kick… and decides to take it short. Kevin!
48 min: Chance for Ziko! The throw-in almost leads, indirectly, to a goal for Egypt. It was deep in their half, but within seconds Ziko was mishitting a left-foot shot from 10 yards after running onto a low cross from the left. His shot was blocked, as was Marmoush’s well-struck follow-up.
48 min Doku waves his arms in frustration when a throw-in is given to Egypt.
46 min Egypt get the second half under way.
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More half-time reading
Half-time reading
Half time: Belgium 0-1 Egypt
Salah’s corner from the right is flicked on and missed completely by Courtois, who is relieved to see it evade Lasheen at the far post.
That’s the last action of a good first half for Egypt, who lead through a ferocious drive from Emam Ashour and are dreaming of their first win at a World Cup. Belgium had more of the ball and not a single shot on target.
45+3 min A poor backheader from Ngoy is collected on the left side of the area by Marmoush. His shot from a very tight angle – an almost impossible angle – is kicked behind by Courtois.
45+1 min: Chance for Doku!
A long throw from the left is laid off deftly by De Ketelerare to Doku, who slashes high and wide from 12 yards. The bounce made it slightly more awkward but it was still an excellent chance, the best of the game at either end.
45 min Four minutes of added time.
42 min Salah leads a promising Egypt break, realises the supporrt isn’t all that and instead plays the ball back to one of his defensive teammates. Egypt are happy to see this through to half-time.
39 min Trossard has a pop from the edge of the area, this time with his left foot. He connects, though not as cleanly as he’d like, and it’s forced away by an Egypt defender.
38 min De Bruyne’s cross is missed by a defender and reaches Doku on the right side of the area. He cuts the ball back to Trossard, who fresh-airs a first-time shot from 10 yards. Not the easiest chance, but we’ve seen him score those.
37 min It’s around 30 degrees at Seattle Stadium. According to Steve Bower on the BBC, the last two days have been the hottest in Seattle for 30 years.
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34 min Belgium break from the resulting corner and and Fotouh is booked for wiping out Doku.
33 min: Good save by Courtois!
Egypt work the ball from left to right, where Ziko moves into the area and cracks a low drive across goal from a tight angle. Courtois gets down very smartly to his right to push it round the far post.
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32 min Doku beats Hany on the left but is strongly challenged by the covering Attia. Belgium have been all hat and no cattle so far.
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29 min “This is the first hydration break I’ve seen where the pitch is watered too,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “And what semantics is this hydration break ? Is drinks break too passe for elite football?”
Didn’t you get the Memo for Modern Life: never use one syllable when three are available.
28 min De Bruyne forces a flying save from Shobeir, though the whistle had gone moments earlier for a foul on Ashour.
26 min “Matt Dony (3 min) needn’t worry,” writes Colum Farrelly. “Axel Witsel is available for kicking people. He’s on the bench.”
And he’s only 37, so he’s got at least four more World Cups in him.
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25 min The match resumes.
22 min Hydration break klaxon.
21 min A reminder, should it be needed, that Egypt have never won a match at the World Cup. Tonight is their eighth attempt.
It’s Ashour’s first international goal, on today of all days. He moved infield from the left to find some space and receive Salah’s angled pass on the edge of the D. After taking a quick touch infield, Ashour turned into the ball and sweet-spotted a sizzling drive into the net. Courtois dived to his right but was beaten for pace. That’s a cracking strike.
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GOAL! Belgium 0-1 Egypt (Ashour 19)
Scratch that last entry: Emam Ashour has given Egypt the lead with a belter!
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18 min Cagey stuff at Seattle Stadium. Belgium took a few minutes to get going but have been marginally the better team since then.
17 min Doku stays down for a little while after being cauight on the back of the calf by Hany. It was accidental but looked painful.
Doku is back on his feet now.
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15 min And now Timothy Castagne is booked for pulling back Mo Salah. I hope Jason Alexander is watching.
13 min Ngoy strides out of defence with authority… until Attia sends him flying with an agricultural intervention. Attia is booked.
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12 min Belgium are awarded their first corner after a race between De Ketelaere and Ibrahim, only for VAR to intervene when replays show the last touch was off De Ketelaere. That’s worked pretty well so far.
11 min “Arne Slot was writing Salah’s scripts this season,” says Niall Mullen. “Unfortunately, there were serious third act problems.”
The first act wasn’t exactly bothering the Tony awards either.
9 min Onana stays down for a bit after being caught by Salah. It was accidental rather than malicious, and Onana gets to his feet once the pain subsides.
7 min The first decent attempt at goal comes from Belgium, specifically Kevin De Bruyne. He receives a short square pass on the edge of the D, shapes to curl a shot towards the far corner and then reverses it towards the near post. It bounces a few yards wide.
Nice effort, though I think Shobeir had it covered.
5 min “I am officially a grumpy old man,” says Niall Mullen. “The pre-match pageantry is irritating me beyond reason. The insanely large flags, the giant Fifa logo, the tens of thousands of boxfresh replica kits in the crowd (who look like extras from a Coke advert). Someone should tell all of these people that football is actually really good which is why its popularity survives this nonsense.”
To be honest, I’m getting a bit wound up with all this negativity. Can we not knock it just chill, relax?
(You’re right, it’s ludicrous and unnecessary. But you can’t fight fate, or rampant avarice. Oh, and wait until you see the pre-match ceremonies in 2038.)
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4 min A good, fast start from Egypt. No chances, not even a goshdarn corner, but they’ve been on the front foot.
3 min “He may have been on the bench, but it was heartening to see Guillermo Ochoa in the Mexico squad,” writes Matt Dony. “It’s not a World Cup without him. Conversely, it’s disappointing not to see Axel Witsel in the Belgium squad. One of those players I’d lose track of, then there he’d be, every two years, strutting around a major tournament, playing some nice passes and kicking some people. Time marches on. All things tend towards entropy. We’re all going to die. Hope it’s a good game!”
What have I told you about listening to that Flaming Lips song. Or was it Sufjan Stevens?
2 min Egypt have started with Salah as the No10 behind Marmoush, with Ziko on the right and Ashour on the left.
1 min Belgium kick off from left to right as we watch.
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Just one more thing It’s Mo Salah’s 34th birthday today. Who writes his scripts these days?
The anthems have been belted out and the match is about to begin. With Romelu Lukaku starting on the bench – he’s barely played all season – Atalanta’s Charles De Ketelaere will play as a falseish nine.
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“It’ll take some going for Spain v Cape Verde not to be my game of the tournament,” writes James Humphries, and he’s a Scotland supporter. “I could barely watch the last five minutes, and there was a lot of involuntary yelling and clapping. Football, bloody hell.
“It’s such a pure, pleasing underdog story I’m not even unduly bothered by the sudden realisation that cape Verde may very well end up getting more points than us.”
The story of day five has already been written
Egypt team guide
By Saher Ahmed
Egypt qualified for the World Cup unbeaten after missing out on Qatar 2022, booking their ticket to North America with a game to spare. They scored 19 goals in nine matches, as Mohamed Salah led the way with nine, conceded two goals and kept seven clean sheets. Despite the impressive numbers in qualifying, Egypt’s shape is pragmatic more than romantic and they carried that same muscle memory into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations: tight games, deep stretches without the ball, quick release into Salah or Omar Marmoush. This was exposed by a semi-final defeat to Senegal, when Egypt were set up more to endure rather than to control.
Egypt will probably begin the World Cup in a 4-3-3 formation that becomes a 4-2-3-1 when they have to chase a game, while occasionally switching to a 3-5-2 against high blocks. Mohamed El-Shenawy is likely to start in goal, although Mostafa Shobeir has lately been giving the veteran a run for his money. The rest of the spine looks solid with Rami Rabia and either Hossam Abdelmaguid or Yasser Ibrahim in central defence. Marwan Attia and Hamdi Fathi will screen the backline and Emam Ashour will look to deliver the ball to the trio up front.
Egypt are cohesive, often hard to score against and emotionally committed, but they can still look blunt if opponents double up on Salah and the midfield cannot pass through the press. The draw placed Egypt in Group G with Belgium, Iran and New Zealand. Egypt have never won a World Cup match so ending that is the floor-level target.
Last week Orange, one of Egypt’s leading mobile network operators, released a series of humorous adverts starring Egypt’s Ahmed Fatouh, Rami Rabia and Hossam Abdelmaguid, where the trio’s optimism is met with scepticism as partners and family members struggle to take them seriously. Their crime? Daring to suggest Egypt might finally progress beyond the group stage of a World Cup.
If there is one thing Egyptians do particularly well, it is self-deprecation. Perhaps that comes from history. Despite winning the Africa Cup of Nations seven times, Egypt are still waiting for their first World Cup victory. The Pharaohs will kick off their fourth appearance at the tournament against Belgium on Monday knowing they failed to win any of their seven matches so far.
That is the contradiction at the heart of Egyptian football. No African nation has won more continental titles, yet Egypt remain one of the continent’s World Cup underachievers. While other African nations aim to replicate Morocco’s 2022 semi-final success, many Egyptians would happily settle for something far more modest: a single group stage victory.
Team news
Belgium (4-2-3-1) Courtois; Meunier, Ngoy, Mechele, Ngoy, Castagne; Onana, Tielemans; Doku, De Bruyne, Trossard, De Ketelaere.
Subs: Lammens, Penders, Theate, De Cuyper, Witsel, Lukaku, Lukebakio, De Winter, Seys, Moreira, Vanaken, Saelemaekers, Raskin, Fernandez-Pardo.
Egypt (4-2-3-1) Shobeir; Hany, Fathy, Ibrahim, Fattouh; Lasheen, Attia; Salah, Ashour, Ziko; Marmoush.
Subs: El Shenawy, Soliman, Alaa, Abdelmaguid, Rabia, Abdelmoneim, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Hassan, Hafez, Donga, Adel, Saber, Alaa, Zizo.
Referee Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
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Full time: Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
Yep, Spain 0-0 Cape Verde. There won’t be a more life-affirming goalless draw at this year’s World Cup; there may never have been one.
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Belgium team guide
By Ludo Vandewalle
The head coach, Rudi Garcia, is well aware that the Red Devils’ strength lies in attack. Kevin De Bruyne, Jérémy Doku and Romelu Lukaku can each make a difference in their own way. The defence is, except for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the weak point after the golden generation of Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen and Jan Vertonghen gradually retired. “That is why I will always choose four defenders and not five,” Garcia explains. “With five defenders I have to sacrifice an attacking player and that would be a shame.”
Garcia usually opts for a medium block to support the attack and not put too much pressure on the defenders. His reasoning could be described as flawed because there is a problem with Lukaku. He played only 64 minutes for Napoli this season and none for the national team because of injuries until coming off the bench in Tuesday night’s 2-0 win against Croatia, scoring the second goal in added time. He was also deeply affected by the death of his father. Belgium’s all time top scorer – 90 goals – will therefore start the World Cup without any kind of match rhythm.
The other teams in Group G are Iran and New Zealand, who meet in the last of today’s games.
Preamble
Hel and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Belgium v Egypt at Seattle Stadium. The 2026 World Cup is gathering pace – we’re already into day five, and by tomorrow morning 32 of the 48 teams will have been in action.
So far we’ve seen everything from potential winners to probable also-rans. It’s hard to know where Belgium and Egypt fit on that particular spectrum. Both are adjusting to life after a golden generation, or at least with a dwindling golden generation that no longer glisters as it once did. But they are still serious teams who could do damage in the competition.
This intriguing game should give us a clue as to the extent of that damage.
Kick off 12pm local/8pm BST/3pm EDT/5am AEST
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