Full Time
Belgium and Egypt played out a 1-1 draw in Group G in Seattle, which is the football equivalent of everyone going home slightly annoyed. Egypt took the lead through Emam Ashour on 19 minutes — assisted, naturally, by Mohamed Salah, who was playing on his 34th birthday in an unfamiliar attacking midfield role and clearly hadn't read the script about it being someone else's night. Belgium equalised in the 66th minute via a Mohamed Hany own goal, forced by Romelu Lukaku literally 22 seconds after he came on as a substitute, which is either the most efficient cameo in World Cup history or a reminder that Egypt's defence had a bad afternoon. No red cards, no extra time, just a point apiece and two teams with plenty still to play for — Belgium face Iran next, Egypt take on New Zealand.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Belgium come in as clear favourites and both sides know it — a win puts the Red Devils in control of Group G, while Egypt absolutely need something from this to keep their knockout hopes alive. Lose this, and Egypt are not eliminated yet, but facing Belgium, Iran, and New Zealand with zero points from game one is a rough place to be. Belgium, meanwhile, have been unbeaten in 13 games and just walloped Tunisia 5-0 in a warm-up. They are not turning up nervous.
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2These two have met four times before — all friendlies — and Egypt actually lead the head-to-head 3-1, including a 2-1 win against Belgium as recently as November 2022. That said, friendlies are friendlies, and a World Cup group game in Seattle is a slightly different occasion. Still, if an Egypt fan brings it up, they're not wrong.
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3Mohamed Salah is 34 today — this is literally his birthday — and he would very much like to celebrate by scoring Egypt's first ever World Cup win. Egypt have played seven World Cup matches across three tournaments (1934, 1990, 2018) and have never won a single one. Salah was involved in 60% of Egypt's goals during qualifying. If Egypt are going to end that run, it goes through him.
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4Belgium have Kevin De Bruyne, now 34, in what is almost certainly his last World Cup. He moved to Napoli as a number 10 and turns up fit, which is more than could be said for parts of recent seasons. Romelu Lukaku is also here despite injury problems — 89 international goals, which is the kind of number that earns you a plane ticket regardless of fitness doubts. Whether both of them can operate at full speed across a tournament is Belgium's most interesting internal question.
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5Egypt have never won a game at the World Cup. Not one. Seven matches, zero wins, across three different tournaments spanning nearly a century. If they beat Belgium today — a top-ten FIFA-ranked side — it would be one of the results of the tournament. They have Salah, they have Omar Marmoush who was tearing up the Premier League this year, and they qualified unbeaten. This is not a nothing side. It's just that ending 92 years of World Cup winlessness against Belgium is a very specific kind of task.
Team Talking Points
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1Belgium's World Cup ran deeper than most — all the way to the quarterfinals, before losing 2-1 to Spain in Los Angeles on July 10. Fabián Ruiz put Spain ahead, Charles De Ketelaere equalised, and Mikel Merino's 88th-minute strike sent Belgium home. A genuinely good tournament ended on the smallest of margins.
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2The high point was the Round of 16 — a 4-1 demolition of co-hosts USA, with Charles De Ketelaere scoring twice. Beating a home team in the last 16, in front of its own fans, is exactly the kind of result that makes a tournament memorable.
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3Belgium's so-called golden generation — De Bruyne, Lukaku and company — has been fading for a few cycles now, so a quarterfinal run built around a new attacking focal point is a genuinely reassuring sign rather than a letdown, even in defeat to the team that went on to win it all.
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4Charles De Ketelaere is the name to know — scored in the Round of 16 rout of the USA and again in the quarterfinal against Spain, making him Belgium's most consistent attacking threat across the whole tournament.
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5Losing to Spain, who then went all the way to the final, is a defeat nobody would complain about. Belgium leave with their best run in years and a genuine successor to their aging core already delivering on the biggest stage.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Belgium go out in the quarterfinals to Spain by a single late goal, after De Ketelaere had just dragged them level — as exits go, that's about as good as losing gets.
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Avoid saying
Don't call this Belgium's golden generation's last stand — De Ketelaere just showed there's a next one, so 'the end of an era' undersells what was actually one of Belgium's better tournaments in years.
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1Egypt's World Cup ended in heartbreak in the Round of 16 against defending champions Argentina — they led 2-0 with 15 minutes left, then lost the lead and the game to a stoppage-time header from Enzo Fernández. As exits go, that's about as painful as it gets.
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2To get there, Egypt beat Australia on penalties in the Round of 32 — their first ever knockout win at a men's World Cup, in a history stretching back over 90 years. Mohamed Salah played every minute of it, hamstring issue and all, and scored his penalty in the shootout.
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3Salah had actually left the final group game, against Iran, with that same hamstring problem — the kind of injury scare that has an entire nation checking his fitness updates rather than the score.
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4Egypt qualified for this World Cup unbeaten, and the group stage needed a second-half comeback against New Zealand to land their first ever World Cup win, before finishing second in their group behind Belgium on goal difference.
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5A first-ever knockout win, a first-ever Round of 16 appearance, and a two-goal lead lost to the defending champions in the cruellest way possible — this was, by a distance, Egypt's best World Cup, even though the ending will sting for a while.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Egypt were 2-0 up on the defending champions with 15 minutes left in the Round of 16, and still went out. That's simultaneously the best and worst World Cup Egypt have ever had.
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Avoid saying
"Salah never delivers for Egypt at World Cups" — he played through a hamstring injury to help them to their first ever knockout win and their first ever Round of 16. If anything, this was the tournament that finally proved the opposite.