World Cup 2026 | Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt

Belgium and Egypt play out an entertaining draw

A second-half own goal denied Egypt a first ever World Cup win as Belgium rescued a point from their Group G opener.

Author  | Jamie P

Stadium  | Seattle Stadium

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.

Lukaku has an impact from the bench

However, Thomas Meunier's low cross was turned into his own net by Egypt defender Mohamed Hany in the 66th minute, under pressure from substitute Romelu Lukaku.

Egypt were backed by a passionate support base on the USA's west coast as they hunted their first World Cup win in eight games, having made their tournament debut back in 1934.

Instead the seven-time African champions spent the final moments holding on and managed to avoid defeat at a World Cup for only the third time.

Best reaction

Reading through all the hundreds (and maybe thousands comments about the game online) and there was a general consensus that Belgium unperformed. 

Francis posted on X/Twitter: "The Belgians must have a pretty good idea of what it was like to be England fan around twenty years ago. This is another so called Golden Generation of talent that were serial under-achievers."

Dominic posted on Threads: "The Egypt side was outstanding. Belgium were ok but I'm not sure they have the quality to win the tournament."