Belgium and Egypt drew 1-1 of their World Cup opener on Monday after a second-half Belgian equalizer spoiled Mohamed Salah’s thirty fourth birthday.
Emam Ashour opened the scoring early within the first half in Seattle, earlier than Romelu Lukaku got here off the bench after the hour to pressure Egypt’s Mohamed Hany into an personal purpose.
With the draw, seven-time Africa Cup of Nations champions Egypt’s anticipate a primary victory at a World Cup goes on.
That is their fourth participation within the international showpiece and with Group G fixtures to return towards Iran and New Zealand, they’ll hope to interrupt that hoodoo in North America.
For Belgium, this event is probably going the final likelihood for the remnants of their golden era to raised their third-placed end in Russia eight years in the past and at last win silverware.
Veterans Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Lukaku are the primary protagonists of that group nonetheless concerned in Rudi Garcia’s squad.
With all eyes within the Pacific Northwest on Salah and De Bruyne, it was the ex-Manchester Metropolis playmaker that created the primary second of be aware within the match when he dragged a pointy effort narrowly extensive within the seventh minute.
Nevertheless, it was Ashour who upstaged the pair simply earlier than the hydration break when he acquired the ball in the same place to De Bruyne however his sweetly-struck effort left Courtois no likelihood because it whistled into the bottom-right nook.
It was simply the second time of their historical past that Egypt had taken the lead in a World Cup match — after Salah opened the scoring in a 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in 2018.
De Bruyne got here inside inches of levelling early within the second interval when he whipped a close-range free-kick over the Egyptian wall, solely to see it rocket off the surface of the publish.
Salah responded on the different finish as he ghosted into the field however had his downward header punched away by Courtois with Ashour getting his follow-up effort all mistaken.
The match grew to become stretched as either side got here shut on a few events, together with a screaming left-footed volley by Belgian captain Youri Tielemans.
With 65 minutes gone, Rudi Garcia determined to ship on Lukaku.
The change instantly paid dividends as Belgium’s all-time prime goalscorer confirmed his predatory instincts to sprint in on a Thomas Meunier cross, together with his presence sufficient to destabilize Hany who put via his personal web.
Salah departed the sector with quarter-hour remaining as Egypt sought to close up store and finally held out for some extent.
