Group G of the 2026 FIFA World Cup opened up with a pivotal clash between Belgium and Egypt, which, on paper, was the fixture to decide which country would finish top of the group, as Belgium came into this game as the favourites to take all three points on the opening day.

Egypt came into this game looking to end a 92-year wait for a World Cup win and made a decent start, retaining possession well in the opening minutes, with Mohamed Salah playing more as a right-sided No.10 rather than out wide, as has been the case when playing for Liverpool.

Much of the talk going into the game centred on whether Jeremy Doku could lead his country to success in this tournament, but the Egyptian defence did well to nullify the early threats from the 24-year-old, denying him any time on the ball.

Mohamed Hany had been doing brilliantly to keep Doku quiet since the start of the game, and Egypt’s opener came in the 20th minute when Hany once again beat Doku to the ball, before the ball eventually ended up with Salah in a central position, who had too much space on the ball from a Belgian point of view. The 34-year-old span on his left foot before finding Emam Ashour, who had drifted in from the left, at the edge of the area, and then produced a stunning strike to finish low past Thibaut Courtois and score his first goal for his country.

In the 33rd minute, Courtois produced an excellent finger-tip save to deny Zico from doubling Egypt’s lead as Egypt pushed to double their lead before the half-time whistle.

After losing his battle to Hany on the left side, Doku and Leandro Trossard swapped wings for the final ten minutes of the first half, with left-back Ahmed Fatouh on a yellow card.

Slight cracks began to appear in Egypt’s impressive defensive line, as Belgium asked more and more questions towards the end of the half, with Doku blazing a good chance over the bar in stoppage time.

Belgium emerged for the second half with a tactical swap that saw Charles De Ketelaere play out wide and Doku up front, as he looked to use his pace to cause problems for the Egyptian centre-back pairing.

Belgium almost equalised six minutes into the second half after Doku was brought down on the edge of the box. Kevin De Bruyne did well to get his strike over the wall and down in time, but his effort crashed off the post.

Egypt should have been 2-0 just four minutes later, with Courtois palming a Salah header straight to the feet of goal-scorer, Ashor, whose follow-up effort back across the face of the goal went well wide.

As Belgium pushed for a leveller, the game opened up, with both sides having decent chances to score. Youri Tielemans came close to scoring a stunning goal to add to his highlight reel, with his volley from the edge of the area going just wide.

After starting on the bench with his fitness a major doubt, Rudi Garcia brought on Belgium’s record goal-scorer in the 66th minute, and just 20 seconds later, Romelu Lukaku was pivotal in the Red Devils’ equaliser.

Thomas Meunier found himself in good space down the right-hand side before squaring the ball to Lukaku, who bundled it into the net. While it went down as an unfortunate own goal for the impressive Hany, the striker’s presence in the box forced the right-back to turn the ball into his own net.

After the goal, Belgium certainly continued on the front foot, clearly in control of the momentum. Still, Egypt carried a big threat on the break, with Marmoush getting behind the Belgian defence on a few occasions.

With just three minutes of normal time remaining, Lukaku spurned an excellent opportunity to complete the Belgian comeback, as his header from a fantastic Nicolas Raskin cross went over the bar.

The Red Devils came into the tournament in red-hot form and will be disappointed that their momentum has been halted at the first hurdle, despite the opening game of a World Cup always being tough, especially against opponents such as Egypt.

Garcia will be disappointed by his side's lack of dominance in the midfield, with the pivot of Amadou Onana and Tielemans struggling to assert themselves for large parts of the game.

At 34, Kevin De Bruyne was still a key figure in the midfield, with a lot of their build-up going through him, but he will rue his scuffed effort on the hour mark, which, for a player of his quality, should have brought the scores level.

In the build-up to the tournament, there was speculation about how Hossam Hassan would set up his Egyptian side, given the poor form of both Salah and Marmoush in their respective league seasons.

However, with Salah playing a more central role behind the Manchester City striker, the pair linked up brilliantly and were very dangerous as Egypt looked to strike on the counter-attack.

While their star players are definitely their forwards, the defence deserves huge praise for shutting down Belgium's attacking threat for long stretches of the game.

Despite scoring an unfortunate own goal, Egypt's right-back Hany was superb in the first half, completely nullifying Doku on the left wing. After Doku switched to the right side, the Egyptians also did well to double-up on the Belgian winger and keep him quiet all game.

Hassan will certainly be encouraged by the signs shown in their opening game, and while the wait for their elusive first-ever World Cup win continues, they will be confident they can get all three points in one of their two remaining games against either Iran or New Zealand.

One slight concern for Egypt, however, is Mohamed Salah's fitness levels for the rest of the group fixtures. With 15 minutes to go, Mohamed Salah was substituted for exciting Egyptian talent Hamza Abdelkarim. The 34-year-old’s fitness has been a major point of contention heading into the tournament, with Salah unwilling to explain the extent of the hamstring injury he picked up towards the end of the season with Liverpool.

While Belgium will be the much more disappointed side coming away from this game, the opening fixture will by far be Belgium's hardest test to overcome in this group stage, so, ultimately, both sides may be content with a draw, as they will expect to fare much better against Iran and New Zealand.

The other half of the group gets underway at 6 PM local time (2 AM BST), and both sides will see this result as a fantastic opportunity to gain an advantage in this group. 

Iran especially, who have never qualified to the knockout stages of a World Cup will be eager to get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start, which would put them in with a great opportunity of breaking that duck.