Key events<\/p>\n
23 min: Behich works his way down the left and earns Australia a corner. The set piece is sent deep, and headed harmlessly wide right by Herrington \u2026 and that\u2019s drinks. It\u2019s either some cans of Victoria Bitter and a \u201cgoon bag\u201d of chardonnay, or tea, coffee and fresh juices. But who\u2019s offering what? No lazy national stereotyping, this is the Guardian after all.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21 min: Fathy wedges a pass down the inside-right and suddenly Zico is free! He reaches the edge of the box before sending a low drive inches wide of the bottom left. The flag goes up for offside, but that looked close, and VAR would at least have taken a look had Zico\u2019s shot gone in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 min: Bos battles his way down the right and looks to have won a corner off Rabia, but the linesman and referee get it wrong and award a goal kick to Egypt. Nothing much coming off for Australia since that Volpato shot off the crossbar.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 17 min: Attia, quarterbacking from deep, sends a long ball down the inside-left channel for Marmoush, who takes it down elegantly before entering the box and looking for the top right. Souttar blocks. Dak Prescott would have been proud of that Attia slingshot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15 min: Australia look to bounce back immediately, Circati throwing long into the Egyptian box from the right. The ball makes its way through to O\u2019Neill, who comes in from the left and bobbles a low diagonal shot wide right.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Australia 0-1 Egypt (Ashour 13)<\/p>\n Salah taps the free kick to his right for Ashour, who has a bash from a tight-ish angle. That\u2019s blocked, but the ball breaks to Hafez on the right-hand corner of the box. Hafez curls back to the far stick, and Ashour, in acres of space, plants a downward header into the left-hand portion of the net! Lovely assist and a calm finish.<\/p>\n Egypt’s Emam Ashour scores the opening goal. Photograph: Jessica Tobias\/AP Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.26 EDT<\/p>\n 12 min: Zico hovers to the left of the Australia box, and is cleaned out unceremoniously by Irvine. A free kick coming up in a very dangerous position. Salah to take. Everyone piles into the Aussie area.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11 min: Rabia sends a backpass to Shobeir, who lets the ball run under his foot and is forced to spin around and hook off his own goalline, under pressure from Irankunda. Nearly a farcical error by the keeper, though the backpass wasn\u2019t great and didn\u2019t do him any favours.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min: Salah gets his first meaningful touch of the ball, and tries to find Marmoush in the Australia box with a wedged pass down the right channel. But he can\u2019t beat the first defender.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 7 min: Nothing comes of the corner. That was such a crucial intervention by Rabia. Without it, Bos was surely putting Australia ahead. The Socceroos look like they plan to get after this much-changed and patched-together Egypt defence.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 min: Well, after a very quiet start, that Volpato effort has snapped Australia into focus. And now Bos barrels down the same inside-right channel, entering the box and preparing to shoot \u2026 but as he cocks his leg back, Rabia sticks out a toe to divert out for a corner.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 min: Volpato turns into space down the inside-right channel. He\u2019s afforded too much time. From 25 yards, he takes aim for the top left, and sends a looping shot off the top of the crossbar and out for a goal kick. Shobeir wasn\u2019t getting to it had it been on target.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min: Attia sends a long pass down the right, hoping to find Ashour. Souttar comes across to unpretentiously bash the ball into touch. Then Australia try the long ball, down the left, but Shobeir comes out of his area to hack clear ahead of Irankunda.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min: A fairly scrappy, nondescript start. Players happy enough to get a first nerve-calming touch of the ball.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Australia get the ball rolling. The roof is keeping that noise in all right! \u201cYes, just the 4am kick-off here in Sydney \u2026 but there will be a pharaoh-ld celebration should Australia beat Egypt and koala-fy for the next round.\u201d Sean Boiling, ladies and gentlemen. He\u2019s here all week morning. With that sort of patter, isn\u2019t that enough?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The teams are out! Australia in gold and green, Egypt in red. The anthems, both glorious, all about fair advancement and beloved homelands. Who could argue with those sentiments? A rare old atmosphere at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. We\u2019ll be off in a couple of minutes!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pre-match postbag (totally solely penned by Chris Paraskevas).<\/p>\n double quotation markThe last few days have been a strange mix of emotions, led largely by bouts of stomach cramps out of nervousness and anticipation, but mitigated by the realisation that this World Cup has completely re-contextualised the phrase \u201cI don\u2019t have a girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n Far from bobbling aimlessly between Fifa x White Castle hydration breaks like some broken, forgotten buoy, the steady procession of 140 quarters of football per day has given me a sense of direction and purpose: no romance to distract me; no \u2018Are you going to watch the football all day again?\u2019 looks of disapproval; just pure, uninterrupted freedom to enjoy the World Cup as a middle-aged man(child).<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I\u2019m feeling nothing but white-hot anticipation for this tie. There\u2019s no need to be afraid: this World Cup is almost the stuff Socceroos dreams are made of, with friendly time zones, favourable draws and clean sheets abound.<\/p>\n Popovic and his players might as well cast off the shackles at some point tonight, because there\u2019s nothing to lose and everything to win. Be positive, don\u2019t hesitate and when the opportunity comes, make sure you are as clinical as I was when I purchased and built my Lionel Messi Celebration Lego (suggested age range: 14-18 years old).<\/p>\n GO THE \u0336M\u0336I\u0336D\u0336L\u0336I\u0336F\u0336E\u0336 \u0336C\u0336R\u0336I\u0336S\u0336I\u0336S\u0336 SOCCEROOS!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A message to all Australian fans who have got up early \/ talked the whole night through. And to think England fans are moaning about the 1am shift they\u2019ll have to put in on Monday. Some people don\u2019t know they\u2019re born.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u266c \u266a \u266b Nothin\u2019 could be grander than to be in Louisiana Arlington-a \u266c \u266a \u266bShare<\/a><\/p>\n A peek inside the Australian dressing room. Yes, someone\u2019s been giving those Ted Lasso blu-rays a good old spin, haven\u2019t they.<\/p>\n Do it. Photograph: Hannah Peters\/FIFA\/Getty ImagesDO IT. Photograph: Hannah Peters\/FIFA\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.28 EDT<\/p>\n If Mo Salah scores tonight, he\u2019ll tie his coach Hossam Hassan\u2019s Egyptian record of 69 international goals. The 34-year-old team captain has appeared in 119 appearances for the Pharaohs; Hassan reached his total after 177 caps. And while we\u2019re on the subject of the Egypt coach, here\u2019s a must-read piece on his close ties with the country\u2019s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the military general whose \u201csecurity apparatus has infiltrated every aspect of civilian life\u201d \u2026 including football.<\/p>\n Mohamed Salah of Egypt attends a training session ahead of the match against Australia. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.00 EDT<\/p>\n Team news: Socceroos unchanged; Salah starts<\/p>\n For Australia it\u2019s simple. Coach Tony Popovic names the same starting XI as he did against Paraguay. Nestory Irankunda continues to lead the attack, while Jordan Bos remains as right wing-back.<\/p>\n Egypt make five changes from the team that started the 1-1 draw with Iran \u2026 though their top line is that Mo Salah has made it, despite hamstring concerns. He\u2019ll be joined up front by Omar Marmoush, with defenders Yasser Ibrahim and Karim Hafez, and midfielders Hamdy Fathy and Marwan Attia also coming into the team. Tr\u00e9z\u00e9guet and Mahmoud Saber drop to the bench, while Mohamed Abdelmonem and Ahmed Fatouh are injured, and Mohanad Lasheen is suspended.<\/p>\n Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images Photograph: Christopher Neundorf\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.34 EDT<\/p>\n The teams<\/p>\n Australia: Beach, Circati, Souttar, Herrington, Bos, O\u2019Neill, Irvine, Behich, Volpato, Metcalfe, Irankunda. Egypt: Shobeir, Hany, Rabia, Ibrahim, Hafez, Fathy, Attia, Ashour, Salah, Ziko, Marmoush. Referee: Gustavo Tejera (Uruguay)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.27 EDT<\/p>\n \u2026 all of which brings us to this afternoon\u2019s showdown. It\u2019s the first competitive meeting between the two countries, though Egypt did win a Cairo friendly 3-0 back in 2010. (On the scoresheet for Egypt that day: Gedo, who earlier in the year had scored the winning goal in the Africa Cup of Nations final, and Mohamed Zidan, who had provided the assist. But we digress.)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 and here\u2019s how Egypt got out of Group G. Undefeated, though they really rode their luck towards the end against Iran.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Australia made it through Group D. The hard yards covered in their first game against one of the pre-tournament hipster picks.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n This is how we saw things from the outset. Reacquaint yourself with today\u2019s cast and crew.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Australia have made it out of the group stage at the World Cup<\/a> twice before. On both occasions, in 2006 and 2022, they lost their first knockout game to the eventual champions, respectively Italy and Argentina. That historical quirk will almost certainly be consigned to the dustbin this year, because either the Socceroos will win a knockout game for the first time ever, or if they lose again \u2026 well, you can get 500-1 on the Pharaohs going all the way, so best of luck with that.<\/p>\n Australia didn\u2019t exactly wow the world in getting through Group D. A 2-0 win over false-starting Turkey, a 2-0 loss against the USA, and a goalless draw with Paraguay. But they made it anyway. By contrast, while this isn\u2019t the greatest iteration of Egypt either, the seven-time champions of Africa do have Mo Salah primed for one last hurrah, and qualifying for the knockouts for the first time in four attempts has got them buzzing in a way the Socceroos are not<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, on balance, it\u2019s too close to call. One of these countries will make history today by winning their first-ever World Cup knockout match, after which they\u2019ll most probably be playing the reigning champs Argentina in the last 16. A hell of a big prize is on offer, so may the best side win. Kick-off is at 1pm local\/2pm EDT\/7pm BST\/4am AEST. It\u2019s on!<\/p>\n
Subs: Ryan, Izzo, Degenek, Geria, Toure, Hrustic, Mabil, Devlin, Trewin, Burgess, Velupillay, Okon-Engstler, Yengi.<\/p>\n
Subs: El Shenawy, Soliman, Mohamed Alaa, Abdelmaguid, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Hassan, Emad, Adel, Saber, Tarek Alaa, Zizo.<\/p>\n