{"id":494684,"date":"2026-06-16T00:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T00:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/494684\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T00:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T00:47:10","slug":"lukaku-makes-instant-impact-to-force-own-goal-and-rescue-draw-for-belgium-against-egypt-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/494684\/","title":{"rendered":"Lukaku makes instant impact to force own goal and rescue draw for Belgium against Egypt | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

For just over half of Egypt\u2019s opening match against Belgium, it looked as though the Pharaohs had done enough for a famous first World Cup<\/a> win. And then Rudi Garcia went to his bench and brought on the player Belgium have long relied on in thorny situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, when you are the opponent and you see Romelu Lukaku entering the field, your confidence goes down and your anxiety increases,\u201d Garcia said after the draw. While Lukaku himself did not score, his threat drew two defenders on to his first run into the box, which resulted in an equalising own goal to salvage a point from a closely fought contest.<\/p>\n

Group G hotted up in earnest with presumptive frontrunners Belgium<\/a> and 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.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s headline clash was slated as a noon affair under a heat advisory in Seattle, with on-field temperatures of 30C (86F) and high, hazy clouds at kick-off. There was scarcely an empty seat to be found, forming a sea of red and white owing to the teams\u2019 similar colours.<\/p>\n

Both sides tested the tolerance of the referee, Ramon Abatti, for contact and exchanged a pair of early yellow cards. As the match entered the 19th minute, Egypt found a breakthrough. A quick restart caught Belgium backpedalling into position as Egypt approached the final third. Some nifty right-sided buildup found Mohamed Salah, where he turned to his left and assessed.<\/p>\n

Emam Ashour lets fly to open the scoring for Egypt in the first half. Photograph: Maddy Grassy\/AP<\/p>\n

Playing on his 34th birthday, Salah fizzed a pass to his left where Emam Ashour collected and cut toward the top of the D. The midfielder fired a shot underneath Thomas Meunier\u2019s dangling leg and beyond a diving Thibaut Courtois, who had overcommitted to his left and was unable to stretch far enough to his right. It was a timely first international goal for the Al-Ahly midfielder on his 30th appearance.<\/p>\n

The stands at Seattle Stadium physically rocked during the raucous celebration, a hallmark of the venue when it hosts American and association football alike (as well as Taylor Swift concerts<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Belgium struggled to maximise their width for large portions of the first half. Egypt were proactive when closing down J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku, often doubling up on the winger whenever the ball went in his direction. On the opposite flank, Leandro Trossard often seemed in two minds about what to do in possession, having the ball taken off of him three times in the opening half-hour.<\/p>\n

Emam Ashour profile<\/a><\/p>\n

After Ashour\u2019s opener, Doku switched to the right where Egypt had fewer numbers. As first-half stoppage time loomed, passes and shots increased in desperation. A long-range effort from Kevin De Bruyne failed to enter the box, instead smacking the striker Charles De Ketelaere on the backside.<\/p>\n

Doku tried a volley but shanked it well above the bar. Egypt nearly found a second with the half\u2019s final action, but the last in a series of corners drifted above the scrum and tamely into open terrain.<\/p>\n

As Belgium shot more speculatively, Egypt comported themselves with greater aspiration than sitting in a bunker. The Pharaohs broke on the counter when able but otherwise were content to have possession in midfield with their defence well stationed behind.<\/p>\n

At last, in the 66th minute, Garcia put his team\u2019s fate at Lukaku\u2019s feet. It proved savvy, as a quick break by Meunier into the box for a close-range cross found Lukaku sliding between a pair of defenders in close proximity to the goalkeeper, Mostafa Shobeir.<\/p>\n

The ball went beyond Lukaku\u2019s leg but caught the inside of Mohamed Hany\u2019s boot and rolled into Egypt\u2019s net, levelling the game just before the second-half drinks break.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Lukaku only logged 40 minutes in Serie A for Napoli this season, raising concerns that Belgium\u2019s record scorer would not be ready for this World Cup. Instead, it has perhaps made a role off the bench more palatable for the veteran striker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going far [this summer] with Romelu, so we have to go easy on him,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThe goal is to get as far as possible in this World Cup with a Romelu who doesn\u2019t get hurt. I think that\u2019s the first objective. And then if he plays this role of super sub and that every time he hits a goal, frankly, it\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For just over half of Egypt\u2019s opening match against Belgium, it looked as though the Pharaohs had done…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-494684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}