Belgium 1-1 Egypt
When the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup came out, the Belgian population had a quick glance at Group G to find out that their home nation had been drawn in a group with Egypt, Iran and New Zealand. Young fans perhaps saw nothing wrong with that group, countries ranked far below their own in the FIFA World Rankings, but those who have been there and seen Belgium perform on the biggest stage of them all in the past 16 years will know that things have never been easy. Even uttering the words âgolden generationâ in Belgium might get you into trouble, a generation seen in the world between 2014 and 2022 as one of the most talented pool of players available to play for Belgium and yet… none of them ever delivered. Now the year is 2026, Kevin De Bruyne is 34 years old, Romelu Lukaku is 33, Thibaut Courtois too is 34, and the feeling in Belgium is that once those senior players eventually call it quits, itâs going to be hard to ever feel the level of excitement that was once present when watching the red devils. Tonight, they met Egypt in Seattle, at Lumen Field, and such a test it was.
Rudi Garcia, the French manager, took over the Belgian national team in January 2025, with a contract he had signed which would see him work with the squad until the end of the 2026 World Cup. Garcia, who had always worked as a manager at club level, now faces a new challenge: carrying this Belgium squad as far as possible. But where exactly will he go and what are the countryâs ambitions heading into the World Cup?
Well, these questions pose themselves, but Garcia only has two games left to answer them. His side faced a tricky opponent in Egypt, who made sure to neutralise the Belgians tonight. In fact, Belgium looked discombobulated at times, lacking any real dynamism. With a frantic start to this World Cup with all teams showing a tremendous level of football being played, no game will ever be easy (as seen with Spain who drew their opener to 64th ranked FIFA team Cape Verde), and this was seen tonight, Egypt have two of the best forwards in the world in Omar Marmoush and Mohamed Salah, and they made sure to keep Belgium occupied tonight. Emam Ashour opened the ceremony
with his first World Cup goal in the 19th minute, assisted by Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, and Belgium struggled. Belgium struggled under the very hot conditions in Seattle. Egypt set up nicely against a team, whoâs major threat in the first half came through the left-hand side with Manchester Cityâs own Jeremy Doku. This was a real contest between Belgium and Egypt, at times, Egypt looked like the better side, the more organised side, looking to counter Belgium with pace, by the 56th minute, Rudi Garcia had seen enough.
Aston Villaâs Amadou Onana was taken off, as he struggled to make any real impact on the game, the Red Devils found it hard to create any movement. Youri Tielemans was able to be more creative offensively and Belgiumâs dynamic changed drastically once Brightonâs De Cuyper came onto the field. In the 66th minute, Belgiumâs all-time leading goalscorer Romelu Lukaku came on to replace Charles De Ketelaere, despite his manager saying he was nowhere near fit enough to play. 27 seconds was all it took for Romelu Lukaku to create an impact on the game, as he drew his defender near the goal and Belgium equalised thanks to an own goal by Mohamed Hany.
A lapsus of concentration perhaps from the African national side? What more can Belgium do against two teams they should beat in Iran and New Zealand? Journalists and reporters may criticise the performance tonight, but the biggest critics of them all will be those Belgian fans who will tell you those exact few words: âIf you expect disappointment, you will never be disappointedâ. Rudi Garcia has a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to make things right. Whether he does or not remains to be seen, but Belgium have to start showing more guts, more spirit, to finally chase the success they so finally desire, even if the team will tell you they have no chance of ever getting anywhere near close to it. They owe it to their fans to show more desire to win football matches. Belgium face Iran next Sunday, whilst Egypt face New Zealand. Group G may go down to the wire