Egypt produced one of their finest performances as they played to a 1-1 draw against Belgium in their Group G opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Monday evening in USA’ Seattle Stadium.
The seven-time Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) champions, including their remarkable three consecutive titles in 2006, 2008 and 2010, are making their fourth appearance at the FIFA World Cup. They opened the scoring through Al Ahly midfielder Emam Ashour in the 20th minute and held onto their lead throughout the first half, which they dominated from start to finish.
Belgium, however, mounted a strong comeback after the break and were rewarded shortly after the hour mark when Egypt defender Mohamed Hany inadvertently scored an own goal in the 66th minute while attempting to clear the danger.
The Red Devils capitalized on the equalizer and adopted a more defensive approach for the remainder of the match to secure a point.
Egypt will regret failing to make the most of their dominance and ball possession, allowing Belgium to gradually neutralize their attacking threat during the closing stages of the encounter.
The two teams are now jointly at the top of Group G and will await the outcome of the match between Iran and New Zealand, who are also in the group. The encounter between Iran and New Zealand is scheduled to take place in the early hours of Tuesday at 3am.
In another match involving an African nation at the Atlanta Stadium, Cape Verde frustrated the 2010 FIFA World Cup champions Spain by holding them to a goalless draw earlier on Monday in Group H.
Cape Verde became the third African team to record a draw at the tournament after Morocco’s 1-1 draw against Brazil and Egypt’s 1-1 stalemate with Belgium.
There will be only one match involving an African team on Tuesday, when Senegal take on France at 9pm.