Emam Ashour’s first international goal had Egypt on course for a maiden FIFA World Cup win, only for Romelu Lukaku’s arrival to help Belgium rescue a point.
Seattle flung open the FIFA World Cup gates for the first time and for a long spell of this Pacific Northwest clash, Egypt were on the verge of creating history.
Prior to this Group G opener, the Pharaohs had only ever led a World Cup match for 29 minutes, never tasted victory and only kept a lone clean sheet. They failed to crack the second and third marks but topped the first after a fine opener from Emam Ashour.
Salah engineered opener
On the day of his 34th birthday, the goal was scripted by Mohamed Salah and published emphatically by Ashour. The Al Ahly midfielder took one touch to set it up and swept a second through the legs of Thomas Meunier and past a diving Thibaut Courtois to send Egypt to the break with a slender lead.
That was the 28-year-old’s first international goal and it took a man who is the second-highest European international goalscorer of all time to rescue a point for Belgium.
Exactly twenty seconds after his second-half introduction, Romelu Lukaku strode into the box to meet a Meunier cross, with his presence leading Mohamed Hany to poke it past his keeper Mostafa Shoubir.
Speaking afterwards, Belgium coach praised Egypt. He said: “The opening match of a competition like the World Cup is always a tough one, especially against one of Africa’s top teams like Egypt.
“The important thing is that we stayed in the game. We managed to equalise thanks to a player who came off the bench, which shows just how important the whole squad is. It was a great game between two very good teams.”
Egypt will now attempt to build on the result as they continue their pursuit of a first appearance in the World Cup knockout rounds.
