Belgium sealed top spot in World Cup Group G with a 5-1 win over New Zealand on Friday, while Egypt advanced in second after a 1-1 draw with Iran, whose stoppage-time winner was ruled out by VAR.
Leandro Trossard scored twice as Kevin De Bruyne inspired Belgium’s first victory of the tournament, while Iran were left waiting on their fate after Shojae Khalilzadeh’s late strike against Egypt was disallowed for offside.
VAR denies Iran late breakthrough
Iran, seeking to advance out of the group stage for the first time, finished third in the group (0-0-3, 3 points) and now must wait to learn their fate.
Iran are sixth in the third-place table, where the top eight go through, and still stand a very strong chance of advancing.
Egypt would have topped the group with a win on Friday but settled for second with Belgium beating New Zealand 5-1. Egypt (1-0-2) and Belgium (1-0-2) each have five points, but Belgium top the group on goal differential (plus-4 to plus-2).
Instead of returning to Seattle on July 1 for their round of 32 game, Egypt will travel to Arlington, Texas, to play Australia on July 3. The “Pharaohs” are undefeated through three matches and have advanced out of the group stage for the first time in their World Cup history.
“Today, we did not know how tough the match would be,” Hassan said, per translation. “The players were ready and they knew the plan.”
Egypt needed to survive a desperate and spirited charge from Iran following the second-half hydration break. The intensity ratcheted up even further in stoppage time, with Iran later hitting the crossbar shortly after Khalilzadeh’s disallowed goal.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan started a strong lineup in search of the win, although he did sub off former Liverpool star forward Mohamed Salah in the 57th minute. Salah was seen receiving treatment on his leg, but Hassan said he was not concerned about his availability against Australia.
“I think he will be back,” Hassan said. “I spoke to Salah, he assured me that it’s going to be ok.”
Despite the late flurry of action, there were no goals following the first 15 minutes of the match.
Egypt’s Mahmoud Saber opened the scoring by drilling a loose ball past multiple Iranian defenders and through the legs of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand in the fifth minute.
Iran refused to be deflated, however. Mehdi Taremi earned a penalty kick in the 11th minute, only to be thwarted by an excellent save by Shoubir on a diving stop. Iran continued to bring the pressure and Shoubir’s next diving save three minutes later was punched back just inside the side post by Ramin Rezaeian for the equaliser.
That also brought on the first substitution of the night with defender Mohamed Abdelmoneim — who committed the foul to set up the penalty kick and was struggling in the back end — staying down after a clearance. He was replaced by Yasser Ibrahim.
There would be plenty of action but no additional scoring in a first half that saw 14 combined shots — five on goal — and four yellow cards issued.
De Bruyne inspires Belgium rout
After kicking off their campaign with two uninspiring draws against Egypt and Iran, Belgium burst into life at the World Cup on Friday with Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings in a 5-1 win over New Zealand that secured top spot in Group G.
Their reward for winning the group is a round of 32 match-up against one of the eight best third-placed teams.
Coach Rudi Garcia’s decision to bench Romelu Lukaku and place his trust in Leandro Trossard opened up different angles and opportunities for De Bruyne, but by the final whistle, all three were 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 told reporters.
“We haven’t won anything yet, but we moved on to the next phase.”
No one had a bigger influence on the game than De Bruyne, who played his part in Trossard’s two goals and netted Belgium’s third in a superb individual display.
The Belgians attacked relentlessly from the first whistle and had already had a penalty decision overturned after a VAR check when De Bruyne floated in a corner that bounced off a defender and fell for Trossard to steer home.
He then set up Trossard for his second with a superb pass in the second half.
De Bruyne’s dizzying array of passes left the New Zealand defence chasing shadows for much of the game, and though he wasted a number of decent chances, he finally got his goal in the 66th minute.
Trossard poked the ball into his path before being felled on the edge of the box, and De Bruyne took a touch before rifling a low left-foot shot into the far corner and wheeling away in celebration.
Lukaku made it 4-1 soon after coming off the bench, making himself and De Bruyne the first Belgians to score 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 said.
“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.”
