Egypt stun Belgium with 2-1 friendly win in Kuwait – National Teams – Sports

Egypt s ahead Mohamed Salah (L) and Belgium s midfielder Yannick Carrasco vie for the ball through the pleasant soccer match between Belgium and Egypt on the Jaber Al-Ahmad Stadium in Kuwait Metropolis on November 18, 2022 (AFP)

Egypt produced a close to flawless show to down the European heavyweights, whose kind might be alarming earlier than they open their World Cup marketing campaign towards Canada on Wednesday.

The Pharaohs, who missed out on a World Cup place following a bitter shootout defeat by Senegal in a two-legged qualifying playoff final March, regarded composed all through, protecting the likes of Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne shackled for a lot of the sport.

They relied on some neatly-worked breakaways to threaten Belgium, who struggled for openings other than a short interval of strain early on.

Egypt gave new Portuguese coach Rui Vitoria his third victory from as many video games after pleasant wins over Niger and Liberia earlier this yr.

Neat game-plan

Belgium had the higher hand within the early levels, with Yannick Carrasco combining nicely with Eden Hazard down the left to unsettle Egypt’s defence.

They may have opened the scoring after 10 minutes when lone striker Michy Batshuayi was discovered by a defence-splitting cross that beat the offside entice however his shot on the flip struck the upright from shut vary.

Egypt rapidly redeemed themselves, taking the wind out of Belgium’s sails with a neat game-plan.

Trabzonspor winger Trezeguet went shut twice as Egypt carved out areas within the closing third.

He had a far-post volley smothered by Thibaut Courtois following a cross from Mohamed Salah earlier than losing Egypt’s finest likelihood when he was launched by a deft cross from Mohamed Elneny, solely to shoot straight on the Actual Madrid keeper from a decent angle.

The breakthrough got here on 33 minutes, because of a mistake from De Bruyne.

The Manchester Metropolis midfielder failed to manage a cross from Zeno Debast and Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed pounced on the error to nutmeg him and place a pleasant right-foot shot into the underside nook from the sting of the world.

Trezeguet doubled Egypt’s lead only a minute into the second half when he outpaced Timothy Castagne following a protracted cross from Salah to interrupt clear and beat Courtois with a exact end.

The seven-time African champions then sat again to guard their two-goal benefit, limiting Belgium to some tame efforts.

Nonetheless, they had been unfortunate to concede a objective within the 76th minute when central defender Ali Gabr, who was later changed, was receiving remedy after selecting up an damage.

The hole he left was uncovered as Carrasco despatched in a low cross for substitute Lois Openda to fireplace dwelling from shut vary.

However that was nearly as good because it good for Belgium, with Egypt standing agency to assert a well-known win over their illustrious opponents.   

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