A lot was expected from Belgium after the good games before the start of the World Cup tournament. Rudi Garcia’s team seemed to have finally found themselves and for the first time after 2021 and the European Championship they look at least decent.
But all that quickly dissipated as soon as the match against Egypt started, which showed that it is a very serious national team, perhaps the most serious since appearing at the World Cup.
From the beginning, Egypt on the one hand exerted serious pressure on the back line of Belgium, and on the other hand, brought the ball up the ground through Belgium’s pressing, and the Belgian’s original game plan quickly fell apart.
It seemed that Egypt could threaten and that very seriously, and already in the 19th minute, the leadership of the African team came through Emam Ashour, who phenomenally hit the Belgium net after a great shot from a distance. Courtois was powerless.
Both of them had several chances until the end of the half, but it seemed that the Egyptians were more serious and that the Egyptians were in control of the match. However, they did not get the second goal.
Egypt opened the second half solidly, had several half-chances, and then Belgium almost equalized through Kevin De Bruyne. The Napoli midfielder hit the post after a phenomenal shot from the break.
It preceded a great chance for Egypt, Marmoush escaped the Belgian defense and at the last moment Ngoy caught up with him and the shot went wide.
The Egyptians stopped completely in the 66th minute. Seconds earlier, Romelu Lukaku entered the game and his presence in the penalty area earned Belgium an equaliser. In the duel with Lukaku, Hany made a mistake and placed the ball behind his goalkeeper.
The game completely turned around, Belgium was better in the continuation, but had a hard time creating chances. Mechele had the biggest goal in the 79th minute, but Egypt’s goalkeeper Shobeir made a phenomenal save.
By the end of the match, Egypt consolidated, and there was no change in the result, and a draw, when the overall impression is taken into account, is the most realistic outcome of the match.
