Group G hotted up in earnest with presumptive frontrunners Belgium. Egypt opening their World Cup campaigns with a credible draw. A crowd of 66,775 watched on under the intense sun of the early North American summer. in a contest which warranted the contentious cooling breaks that have been universally adopted for this tournament.
The group’s headline clash was slated as a noon affair under a heat advisory in Seattle, with on-field temperatures of 30C (86F). high, hazy clouds at kick-off. There was scarcely an empty seat to be found, forming a sea of red. white owing to the teams’ similar colours.
Next up, the second game of the day in Group H. (ICYMI, the first was one for the books.)
Group G hotted up in earnest with presumptive frontrunners Belgium. Egypt opening their World Cup campaigns with a credible draw. A crowd of 66,775 watched on under the intense sun of the early North American summer. in a contest which warranted the contentious cooling breaks that have been universally adopted for this tournament.
The group’s headline clash was slated as a noon affair under a heat advisory in Seattle, with on-field temperatures of 30C (86F). high, hazy clouds at kick-off. There was scarcely an empty seat to be found, forming a sea of red. white owing to the teams’ similar colours.
Egypt substitute Hamza Abdelkarim’s reaction
double quotation mark It was a good game for the whole team. We wanted the three points, we got one in the end, but we gave it our all. The whole atmosphere was great – thank you to our fans – and now we’ll focus on the next match.
We know Belgium have quality players. we can’t say whether it’s the easiest game or the hardest game in the group.
The latest from the England camp
Bukayo Saka has admitted he is continuing to gamble on his fitness to play for England at the World Cup finals. said he “is ready to go” despite a nagging achilles injury.
The Arsenal forward came off the bench in England’s last warm‑up game against Costa Rica. the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, warned that Saka’s fitness is being monitored carefully. The 24‑year‑old player is believed to have picked up the injury during the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City in March. missed Arsenal’s next seven matches as a result. Since then, he has completed 90 minutes only once in five appearances. was substituted before the end of normal time in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Asked whether he agreed with Tuchel’s suggestion that he was not ready to play an entire match. Saka said: “I don’t want to say anything that goes against the manager. But what I would say between Mikel [Arteta]. Arsenal’s medical team and England’s medical team, since March they have managed me amazingly and helped me get back on the pitch and do what I can for the team. I am feeling better than I have felt for the last few months. I am ready to go.”
Saka acknowledged, though, that he has been playing through the pain barrier. “As players it’s the biggest gamble, especially if you’re not feeling your sharpest. You have the choice whether you don’t play or you put yourself out there knowing people are going to judge you the same.
A note on Belgium’s equaliser, something I missed at the time. It stemmed from a free-kick that was awarded for a foul on Youri Tielemans in the Belgium half.
Belgium stole 14 yards before taking the free-kick,. the BBC punditry team are discussing whether Egypt’s defence were caught cold. To be honest I think they just lost concentration, but that’s still pretty shoddy. Fourteen yards!
The impressive Mechele makes another important defensive intervention. ensuring Abdulkarim can’t reach a cross from the left in front of goal.
That’s the last action of an enjoyable match that really came to life in the last quarter. Emam Ashour thundered Egypt in front; the Belgium substitute Romelu Lukaku forced an own goal from Mohamed Hany within 30 seconds of coming on.
I wonder how many players have helped create a World Cup goal before they’ve even touched the ball.
90+4 min A free-kick from Tielemans is helped on imaginatively on the volley by Mechele. The ball brushes the roof of the net on its way down.
90+2 min We’ve seen a replay of that penalty appeal. It was probably obstruction,. would have been a second yellow card for De Cuyper, but the contact looked outside the area.
90 min Mechele, stretching towards his own goal, makes a potentially goal-saving tackle on Abdelkarim. He. Courtois started to leave a boncing ball to each other, but Abdelkarim was coming on the blindside and when Mechele realised that he wisely took no chances.
Five minutes of added time.
89 min: Egypt penalty appeal! Zizo goes down on the edge of the area, possibly inside, after running into De Cuyper. It’s hard at first glance to say whether it was a foul or even inside the box,. it looks like VAR have cleared it.
89 min: Double substitution for Egypt Karim Hafez and Ibrahim Adel come on for Hamdy Faty and Ahmed Fotouh.
Raskin’s lovely cross from the right is headed over by Lukaku, eight yards out. That’s a very good chance, one that looks better with each replay, because he’d done the hard work by finding space. then getting up early to meet the cross.
You can understand if he’s a bit rusty, having hardly played all season for Napoli.
86 min: Double substitution for Belgium Hans Vanaken and Matias Fernandez-Pardo come on for Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.
84 min The resulting corner eventually reaches Marmoush. whose crisp shot from the edge of the area is superbly blocked by the charging Mechele.
Both teams are going for this.
83 min An overhit cross from the left almost embarrasses Courtois, who has to backpedal. bundle it over the bar.
De Bruyne teases the free-kick into the six-yard box. Shobeir punches clear with authority, but seconds later the ball is dumped back into the box. Mechele plants a strong header back across goal. Shobeir moves quickly across his line and leaps to his left to palm it away. A bit of a camera-friendly save, but still a pretty good one.
81 min Doku cuts inside from the left and is tripped by Hany. The free-kick is just outside the area, too wide for a shot.
78 min: Fine block! Egypt are haging on here. De Bruyne. Trossard combine to tee up Lukaku, whose rasping drive from 15 yards is heroically blocked by either Fathy or Ibrahim. Or possibly both.
De Bruyne created that opening with a gorgeous eye-of-the-needle pass to Trossard.
76 min: Egypt substitution Zizo and Hamza Abdelkarim replace Ziko and Mo Salah.
That was a strong and selfless performance from Salah in the No10 role. He basically fed Marmoush at every opportunity, and it was his pass that set up Ashour’s goal.
75 min De Cuyper is booked for something or other. There’s a lot going on okay.
(Replays confirm he pulled back Ziko.)
73 min Trossard hugs the touchline on the right and plays a brilliant square pass to the underlapping Meunier. He galumphs into the area and drives a low shot that is comfortably saved by Shobeir. Excellent move, slightly tame finish.
71 min: Egypt substitution Play resumes after Rami Rabia replaces the goalscorer Emam Ashour.
67 min Hydration break klaxon.
I thought Lukaku had scored but in fact it’s an own goal from Mohamed Hany. Meunier’s drove a really dangerous cross towards Lukaku, who was fighting with Ibrahim. Hany to reach it in front of goal. Ibrahim, stretching towards his own goal, unwittingly diverted the ball off Hany and into the net.
It’s not Lukaku’s goal but he played a big part in it –. he’d only been on the field for 22 seconds. It’s a lovely moment for a player whose last World Cup game was about as haunting as it gets.
Romelu Lukaku has made an instant impact!
66 min: Belgium substitution Romelu Lukaku, 33, replaces Charles De Ketelaere. And…
65 min For the umpteenth time, Salah plays a simple-looking pass that invites Marmouth to use his considerable pace. Marmoush cuts inside on the left of the area. hits a shot that takes a big deflection,.totally wrongfoots Courtois and spins not far wide.
The decision to play Salah as a No10 has worked really well for Egypt.
64 min That De Bruyne shot was Belgium’s first effort on target.
For now at least, De Bruyne’s monstrous strike against Brazil in the 2018 quarter-final remains his last World Cup goal.
Belgium’s first corner of the game is taken by De Bruyne on the right. It’s headed away as far as Tielemans on the edge of the D; he hooks a sensational left-foot volley. whistles just wide with Shobeir scrambling across goal.
Seconds later, Meunier’s short cross is swept straight at the keeper by De Bruyne. He was 16 yards out. had to take it on the half-volley; while it wasn’t a sitter, peak De Bruyne would score that at least nine times out of 10.
61 min Doku goes over in the area after trying to zig-zag between Ibrahim and Attia. The referee isn’t interested. In the parlance of our time, Doku was looking for it.
59 min Salah plays a good ball up to Marmoush, all alone on the halfway line. He turns thrillingly away from Ngoy on the halfway line, charges all the way into the area. shoots wide under pressure.
The pressure was applied by Ngoy, who recovered very well after being left for dead on the halfway line.
57 min: Double substitution for Belgium Maxim De Cuyper and Nicolas Raskin replace Timothy Castagne and Amadou Onana.
Marmoush is superbly challenged in the area by Mechele. Egypt win the ball back on the left, where Fotouh (I think) curls an inviting cross into the middle. Salah’s downward header is slapped away by Courtois, a slightly weird save,. Ashour throttles the loose ball miles wide of the far post.
Salah’s was a decent chance; Ashour’s was huge.
The free-kick is to the left of centre, just outside the width of the goal. De Bruyne wobbles a superb free-kick over the wall that hits the left-hand post and ricochets behind for a goalkick.
52 min At the moment Doku is playing Egypt on his own. He wriggles away from Fathy (I think) and is fouled on the edge of the area. De Bruyne won’t take this free-kick short.
51 min Doku beats his man in the area and stabs a cross that is blocked at source.
Egypt have doubled up really well on Doku.
50 min Doku is fouled 30 yards from goal by his Manchester City team-mate Marmoush.
Their former team-mate De Bruyne is over the freee-kick… and decides to take it short. Kevin!
48 min: Chance for Ziko! The throw-in almost leads, indirectly, to a goal for Egypt. It was deep in their half,. within seconds Ziko was mishitting a left-foot shot from 10 yards after running onto a low cross from the left. His shot was blocked, as was Marmoush’s well-struck follow-up.
48 min Doku waves his arms in frustration when a throw-in is given to Egypt.
46 min Egypt get the second half under way.
More half-time reading
Salah’s corner from the right is flicked on. missed completely by Courtois, who is relieved to see it evade Lasheen at the far post.
That’s the last action of a good first half for Egypt, who lead through a ferocious drive from Emam Ashour. are dreaming of their first win at a World Cup. Belgium had more of the ball and not a single shot on target.
45+3 min A poor backheader from Ngoy is collected on the left side of the area by Marmoush. His shot from a very tight angle – an almost impossible angle – is kicked behind by Courtois.
A long throw from the left is laid off deftly by De Ketelerare to Doku, who slashes high. wide from 12 yards. The bounce made it slightly more awkward. it was still an excellent chance, the best of the game at either end.
45 min Four minutes of added time.
42 min Salah leads a promising Egypt break, realises the supporrt isn’t all that. instead plays the ball back to one of his defensive teammates. Egypt are happy to see this through to half-time.
39 min Trossard has a pop from the edge of the area, this time with his left foot. He connects, though not as cleanly as he’d like, and it’s forced away by an Egypt defender.
38 min De Bruyne’s cross is missed by a defender and reaches Doku on the right side of the area. He cuts the ball back to Trossard, who fresh-airs a first-time shot from 10 yards. Not the easiest chance, but we’ve seen him score those.
37 min It’s around 30 degrees at Seattle Stadium. According to Steve Bower on the BBC, the last two days have been the hottest in Seattle for 30 years.
34 min Belgium break from the resulting corner and and Fotouh is booked for wiping out Doku.
Egypt work the ball from left to right, where Ziko moves into the area. cracks a low drive across goal from a tight angle. Courtois gets down very smartly to his right to push it round the far post.
32 min Doku beats Hany on the left but is strongly challenged by the covering Attia. Belgium have been all hat and no cattle so far.
29 min “This is the first hydration break I’ve seen where the pitch is watered too,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “And what semantics is this hydration break? Is drinks break too passe for elite football?”
Didn’t you get the Memo for Modern Life: never use one syllable when three are available.
28 min De Bruyne forces a flying save from Shobeir. though the whistle had gone moments earlier for a foul on Ashour.
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