Egypt's Wait for a World Cup Victory Continues as Salah Takes on a New Role

Following their 1-1 draw with Belgium to get their 2026 World Cup campaign underway, the Pharaohs' record in this tournament now stands at eight matches played, with three draws and five losses.

However, despite the ongoing drought, the encouragement and satisfaction from securing a point against the highest-ranked team in Group G should motivate them to succeed against New Zealand and Iran.

Emam Ashour scored Egypt's only goal of the match in the 19th minute, before an own goal, forced by the introduction of Belgian substitute Romelu Lukaku, saw the spoils shared in Seattle in a lively, end-to-end contest.

Salah Reinvented?

It has been eight years since Salah last graced the World Cup stage. In that time, he has won everything at club level and has little left to prove except success with the Pharaohs.

Two appearances and two goals in 2018 came and went, and now at 34, celebrating his birthday on Monday, his starting position surprised many.

Playing in the number 10 role, behind rather than alongside Omar Marmoush, it looked unfamiliar, like seeing a polar bear in Arlington, Texas, but it did not take long for it to make sense.

Dropping deep to avoid the presence of Youri Tielemans, Salah slipped a ball into the feet of Ashour, who applied the finish.

The role freed Salah up, removing some of the issues he has faced in an Egyptian shirt when teams double up on him and effectively take him out of the game. It also allowed his teammates to keep Belgium quiet on the wings. Salah's work rate has been questioned at Liverpool, but moving him centrally removes that responsibility from his game.

This will not go down as his finest hour. The assist proved that the gamble paid off, but his chances in front of goal were limited, his best coming from a header that was parried away by Thibaut Courtois.

That would be his last serious action in the game, as he was taken off with 14 minutes remaining. He left to a rousing ovation, and it will not be his last game in Seattle, with Egypt facing Iran back here on June 26th. He will be wanting more from what could be his final World Cup.

Tielemans Happy to Stop Egypt's Transition

One of Belgium's biggest goals would have been to stop Salah from gaining a stranglehold on proceedings, and they did that effectively.

Speaking after the game to reporters, Tielemans explained: "We played against Egypt, not against Salah only.

"We tried to break their transition game, which in some moments they came through it, they had some chances in transition, but we know we can do better.

"...We lost too many balls, we were not quick enough in transition, and when we had the ball, we were not quick enough to find solutions. We were too static, especially in the first half, and then in the second half we created some chances where we could have won the game. They had some chances as well, so 1-1 was a fair point."

The Red Devils earned that point through Lukaku, forcing Mohamed Hany to put the ball into his own net, and Tielemans was pleased for his teammate to make such an impact coming off the bench.

He added: "Biggest impact, first touch, first goal. That helped us. He is a target man, he needs to build up his fitness, which is understandable after being out for the season, but he helps us in this way."

A point was a fair result on the day, and both sides will be pleased to be up and running in Group G, especially given their on-paper easier assignments to come against New Zealand and Iran, where you would expect Egypt to finally end their long wait for a World Cup win.