With a come-from-behind win against New Zealand, Egypt put themselves in an excellent position to fight for the knockout stages – Mo Salah put in a brilliant performance. The superstar from the African continent set a record for this World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico with ten shots on goal – but he also provided two scorer points.
Finn Surman gave the New Zealanders a surprising lead early on (15th minute), Mostafa Zico (58th) and Mohamed Salah (67th) turned the game around before substitute Trézéguet (82nd) made the final score 3-1 (0-1).
While Egypt already has one foot in the round of 16 after the first win in its World Cup history, New Zealand has to beat Belgium in the last group game.
A lively start to the game
The game in Vancouver picked up speed quickly from kick-off. Chris Wood for New Zealand and Omar Marmoush for Egypt had the first chances to score, but their aim was too imprecise. Mo Salah was also dangerous in the early stages, his shot was blocked by central defender Finn Surmon.
Egypt keeper Oufa Shobeir had to make the first save after just under a quarter of an hour when Alijah Just was about to score his third goal of the tournament – but the goalkeeper quickly dived into the threatened left corner.
Elbow insert before the goal
But a minute later, Shobeir was powerless. After a corner from Tim Payne, two Egyptians in the center interfered with each other and thus ignored Surman – the central defender stood perfectly in the air and nodded off. The goal counted, but the Egyptians’ subsequent protests were understandable: Marko Stamenic used an elbow during the corner kick, which referee Omar Al Ali should have whistled for.
Finn Surman celebrates after his goal to make it 1-0
Egypt had a few orientation problems after conceding a goal, New Zealand were pushing for the second goal. It was only after the drinking and advertising break in the middle of the first half that the North Africans began to move forward more consistently, but Marmoush failed with a shot from the edge of the penalty area past Max Crocombe in the New Zealand goal.
Ashour misses the chance to equalize
Egypt’s captain Salah had the opportunity to equalize after a good half hour, placing a short free kick from 18 meters just past the left post. The equalizer was long overdue in stoppage time in the first half, but Emam Ashour hit the ball with his shin from close range after Salah’s right cross and missed – Crocombe did not have to intervene.
At the beginning of the second half, the All Whites allowed themselves to be pushed deep into their own half for several minutes, but they were so solid that Marmoush in particular was repeatedly blocked in his shot attempts. Neusesland made its first relief attack in the 52nd minute and became dangerous: Callum McCowatt rose into the air after a long ball at the five-pointer and extended the ball with the back of his head – but Shobeir made an outstanding save.
Zico redeems the fans, Salah follows up
After that, only Egypt played forward again, New Zealand became more and more passive. After just under an hour, Hossam Hassan’s team deservedly rewarded themselves: Mohamed Hany’s right-wing cross landed perfectly on the head of Mostafo Zico, who made Crocombe look bad. Even after this wake-up call, New Zealand hardly found any way forward, and the Egyptians stepped up – this time through their boss himself.
The All Whites tried a swoop on the counterattack, but referee Al Ali saw it through and rightly allowed the game to continue. In direct response, Salah celebrated a one-two with Zico and pushed the ball into the left corner, unstoppable for Crocombe. At this point, the match statistics showed almost twice as many shots on goal and around 60 percent ball possession for the Egyptians, so the lead was completely okay.
The lid was on just ten minutes before the end. Trézéguet, who had recently been substituted, broke away from his opponent after a corner and scored the decision with a remarkable diving header.
New Zealand under pressure to win against Blegien
After only three draws in Group G, Egypt moved to the top of the table with this three points and has four points. In order to securely advance, a draw against Iran next Saturday (5 a.m. CEST) in Seattle would be enough, who have collected two points. Belgium also has two points and is now playing in Vancouver at the same time as Egypt against New Zealand – currently last with only one point, only a win against the “Red Devils” will help on Saturday.
