Iran’s Shoja Khalilzadeh celebrates scoring a purpose with teammates that was later disallowed through the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group G match towards Egypt, Seattle Stadium, Seattle, Washington, US, June 26, 2026. — Reuters
Belgium sealed prime spot in World Cup Group G with a 5-1 win over New Zealand on Friday, whereas Egypt superior in second after a 1-1 draw with Iran, whose stoppage-time winner was dominated out by VAR.
Leandro Trossard scored twice as Kevin De Bruyne impressed Belgium’s first victory of the match, whereas Iran have been left ready on their destiny after Shojae Khalilzadeh’s late strike towards Egypt was disallowed for offside.
VAR denies Iran late breakthrough
Iran, in search of to advance out of the group stage for the primary time, completed third within the group (0-0-3, 3 factors) and now should wait to be taught their destiny.
Iran’s Shoja Khalilzadeh celebrates scoring a purpose with teammates that was later disallowed through the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group G match towards Egypt, Seattle Stadium, Seattle, Washington, US, June 26, 2026. — Reuters
Iran are sixth within the third-place desk, the place the highest eight undergo, and nonetheless stand a really sturdy likelihood of advancing.
Egypt would have topped the group with a win on Friday however settled for second with Belgium beating New Zealand 5-1. Egypt (1-0-2) and Belgium (1-0-2) every have 5 factors, however Belgium prime the group on purpose differential (plus-4 to plus-2).
As an alternative of returning to Seattle on July 1 for his or her spherical of 32 sport, Egypt will journey to Arlington, Texas, to play Australia on July 3. The “Pharaohs” are undefeated via three matches and have superior out of the group stage for the primary time of their World Cup historical past.
“Today, we did not know how tough the match would be,” Hassan mentioned, per translation. “The players were ready and they knew the plan.”
Egypt wanted to outlive a determined and spirited cost from Iran following the second-half hydration break. The depth ratcheted up even additional in stoppage time, with Iran later hitting the crossbar shortly after Khalilzadeh’s disallowed purpose.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan began a robust lineup looking for the win, though he did sub off former Liverpool star ahead Mohamed Salah within the 57th minute. Salah was seen receiving remedy on his leg, however Hassan mentioned he was not involved about his availability towards Australia.
“I think he will be back,” Hassan mentioned. “I spoke to Salah, he assured me that it’s going to be ok.”
Regardless of the late flurry of motion, there have been no targets following the primary quarter-hour of the match.
Egypt’s Mahmoud Saber opened the scoring by drilling a unfastened ball previous a number of Iranian defenders and thru the legs of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand within the fifth minute.
Iran refused to be deflated, nevertheless. Mehdi Taremi earned a penalty kick within the eleventh minute, solely to be thwarted by a superb save by Shoubir on a diving cease. Iran continued to convey the strain and Shoubir’s subsequent diving save three minutes later was punched again simply contained in the aspect submit by Ramin Rezaeian for the equaliser.
That additionally introduced on the primary substitution of the evening with defender Mohamed Abdelmoneim — who dedicated the foul to arrange the penalty kick and was struggling within the again finish — staying down after a clearance. He was changed by Yasser Ibrahim.
There could be loads of motion however no extra scoring in a primary half that noticed 14 mixed pictures — 5 on purpose — and 4 yellow playing cards issued.
De Bruyne evokes Belgium rout
After kicking off their marketing campaign with two uninspiring attracts towards Egypt and Iran, Belgium burst into life on the World Cup on Friday with Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings in a 5-1 win over New Zealand that secured prime spot in Group G.
Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne celebrates scoring their third purpose through the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group G towards New Zealand, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada, June 26, 2026. — Reuters
Their reward for profitable the group is a spherical of 32 match-up towards one of many eight greatest third-placed groups.
Coach Rudi Garcia’s resolution to bench Romelu Lukaku and place his belief in Leandro Trossard opened up completely different angles and alternatives for De Bruyne, however by the ultimate whistle, all three have been on the scoresheet.
“They are so wonderful for a nation as ours, and they delivered tonight, Leandro, De Bruyne, Lukaku — this is what the so-called ‘oldies’ did tonight,” Garcia instructed reporters.
“We haven’t won anything yet, but we moved on to the next phase.”
Nobody had a much bigger affect on the sport than De Bruyne, who performed his half in Trossard’s two targets and netted Belgium’s third in an outstanding particular person show.
The Belgians attacked relentlessly from the primary whistle and had already had a penalty resolution overturned after a VAR examine when De Bruyne floated in a nook that bounced off a defender and fell for Trossard to steer dwelling.
He then arrange Trossard for his second with an outstanding go within the second half.
De Bruyne’s dizzying array of passes left the New Zealand defence chasing shadows for a lot of the sport, and although he wasted quite a lot of respectable probabilities, he lastly bought his purpose within the 66th minute.
Trossard poked the ball into his path earlier than being felled on the sting of the field, and De Bruyne took a contact earlier than rifling a low left-foot shot into the far nook and wheeling away in celebration.
Lukaku made it 4-1 quickly after coming off the bench, making himself and De Bruyne the primary Belgians to attain at three World Cups, and fellow substitute Alexis Saelemaekers added a fifth in stoppage time.
“We’re just really happy with everyone. I think we have such a good group at the moment,” Trossard mentioned.
“Everyone is important, you can see today as well – the players coming from the bench, they are involved with goals and assists as well, so, yeah, we have to just keep on going and continue that into the next game.”
