World Cup 2026 Day 5: Group G Recap

The 2026 World Cup is fully underway, with matches galore daily, and Monday was no different as Group G got underway for their 2026 campaign, with Belgium facing Egypt before Iran and New Zealand went head-to-head.

General view inside the stadium as the teams line up before the match

Lee Smith

World Cup Group G - Matchday 1

Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt 

The first game of Group G saw European heavyweights Belgium take on the most successful team in Africa, Egypt, as both teams looked to top the group with 3 points. 

Rudi Garcia opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Charles De Ketelaere upfront as a false 9. Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Leandro Trossard made up the 3 behind him, and Aston Villa teammates Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans were the holding midfield duo.  

Hossam Hassan also opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Manchester City striker Omar Marmoush leading the line, Mohamed Salah in behind him, Ziko on the right wing, and Emam Ashour on the left. Yasser Ibrahim and Hamdy Fathy were the center-back partnership that Hossam Hassan opted for. 

Kevin De Bruyne had the opening chance of the game for either side as his outside-of-the-box strike just went wide of the left-hand post. Egypt grew into the game and looked the better side on the ball, and that proved to be right as 19 minutes into the game, Emam Ashour had his first-ever international goal, and what a goal it was. With his back towards goal, Ashour turned with the ball and absolutely rifled it home from 20 yards out, leaving Courtois no chance in the Belgian goal. 

Belgium's Thibaut Courtois in action as he saves the header from Egypt's Mohamed Salah

Albert Gea

The longer the game went on in the first half, the more obvious it became that Belgium were lacking a focal point up front, and the false 9 tactic just wasn't working. Courtois was called into action just after the half-hour mark when Ziko had a shot from a wide position, and the Belgian keeper pulled off a great stop to deny Egypt a 2nd goal of the game. 

Jeremy Doku had a good chance to get his nation back in the game right before halftime, but his half volley from just 12 yards out went sailing over the bar, and Egypt went into the halftime break with a one-goal lead over Belgium. 

Belgium seemed to start the 2nd half a little better than they had in the first, and Kevin De Bruyne went close again as his free kick from just over 20 yards out was denied by the left-hand post. Egypt had a huge chance a few minutes later when Courtois made a very poor save from a Mohamed Salah header, and the follow-up chance was fired out for a throw-in on the far side. 

60 minutes in, Belgium were finding gaps in the Egyptian defense, with Tielemans going close from outside the box initially, and then, just a minute later, Kevin De Bruyne had a golden chance to equalize, but he scuffed his shot in the middle of the box, right into the keeper's hands. 

Rudi Garcia finally decided to bring Romelu Lukaku on at 65 minutes into the game, and having a focal point leading the line changed the game instantly as Belgium found an equalizer through an unfortunate own goal by Mohamed Hany as he was tracking Lukaku's run into the box, the ball came across and hit the Egyptian defender's foot and rolled into the back of his own net. 

Belgium's Romelu Lukaku celebrates their first goal, an own goal scored by Egypt's Mohamed Hany

Albert Gea

75 minutes in and Hossam Hassan decided to make some Egyptian history as 18-year-old forward Hamza Abdelkarim, who has spent this past season on loan at Barcelona's U19S team, came on to replace Mohamed Salah and became Egypt's youngest ever player to play at the World Cup 

Belgium had the biggest chance of the final 10 minutes of the game when Mechele initially went so close to putting Belgium in the lead with a header, but Mostafa Shobeir produced a world-class save to deny the Belgian defender. Then Romelu Lukaku had a great chance 5 minutes from full time, but he couldn't keep his header from going over the bar, and the game ended 1-1, with Egypt still looking for their first-ever World Cup win. 

Iran 2 - 2 New Zealand 

The 2nd game in Group G saw Iran and New Zealand finally get their 2026 World Cup campaign underway, with both teams looking to take advantage of group favorites Belgium dropping points to Egypt, blowing the group leader race wide open. 

Amir Ghalenoei opted for a 4-4-2 formation for his Iranian side, with captain and national icon Mehdi Taremi leading the line upfront with Shahriar Moghanlou as his strike partner. Saman Ghoddos and Saeid Ezatolahi were the chosen central midfield options, while Dennis Eckert of Standard Liege was on the bench. 

Darren Bazeley opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation for his New Zealand side, with captain and national icon Chris Wood leading the line while Elijah Just, Sarpreet Singh, and Callum McCowatt made up the three behind Wood. Joe Bell and Marko Stamenic were the holding midfield duo selected, and ever-present goalkeeper Max Crocombe was between the sticks for New Zealand. Exciting youngsters Jesse Randall and Lachlan Bayliss could only make the bench. 

General view inside the stadium as the teams line up before the match

Lisi Niesner

Iran opened the game on top, pushing forward and looking for the opening goal, but it was New Zealand who opened the scoring seven minutes in with a brilliantly worked goal as Chris Wood took a long ball down well and flicked it through to Elijah Just, who hit it on the volley sweetly to open the scoring. 

Both teams tried to get the 2nd goal of the game after New Zealand opened the scoring, and Iran came extremely close to leveling the game as they hit New Zealand on the break, but star striker Mehdi Taremi struck the post with a beautiful shot just outside the box. 

A very bizarre minute or so occurred just after the hydration break when Max Crocombe seemed to push an Iranian attacker over, the referee never gave a penalty, but Crocombe took an age to kick the ball and ended up kicking through a different Iranian player, and the following volley at the open goal ended up high and wide. 

New Zealand's Elijah Just scores their second goal

Matthew Childs

Coming out of the hydration break, Iran seemed to regain the momentum and control of the game, and just after the half-hour mark, Iran converted a scrappy chance to equalize. The ball bounced into the path of Ramin Rezaeian, who tapped home from close range. 

Iran started the 2nd half on top and looking to take the lead for the first time in the match and they had a couple of half chances but it was New Zealand who found themselves in the lead again and it was Elijah Just with his 2nd goal of the game after some beautiful team build up play, Chris Wood rolled it into the path of Just and he lifted it brilliantly over the keeper and into the Iranian net. 

Just 10 minutes later, though, Iran managed to find their 2nd equaliser of the game, and it's a very well-worked goal as Ghoddos found first goalscorer Ramin Razaeian on the right wing, who delivered a great ball into the box and Mohammad Mohebi headed home the cross with the help of the far post to put Iran level once again. 

Iran's Mohammad Mohebbi scores their second goal past New Zealand's Max Crocombe

DANIEL COLE

Iran had a few half-chances from corners and long shots, but nothing that really put New Zealand or Max Crocombe under any sort of pressure, and Chris Wood had the best chance for New Zealand in the final 20 minutes when he went close with a header from close range, but it was straight at the keeper. The game ended 2-2 with both teams taking a point and putting on arguably the best game of the tournament so far. 

Day 5, Group G, Round-up:

Both games ended in a draw on the opening matchday of Group G, so all four teams are tied on one point. New Zealand takes the top spot due to having the best disciplinary record of the four teams, with Iran taking 2nd place, Belgium taking 3rd, and Egypt bottom of the group on 4th place. 

Tomorrow, we are in for another huge day of World Cup action as four more games and two groups get their 2026 World Cup campaigns underway. France takes on Senegal while Iraq faces Norway in Group I; in Group J, Argentina plays Algeria, and Jordan, in their first World Cup in history, takes on Austria.