Egypt achieved a historic triumph, this Sunday (21), by beating New Zealand 3-1, in Vancouver. It was the first Egyptian victory in the history of World Cups, after nine games and four appearances.
New Zealand opened the scoring with Surman in the first half. But, in the final stage, Egypt improved and reached the turnaround thanks to goals from Salah and Trezeguet (namesake of the world champion with France in 1998).
It was also the first victory in group G of the World Cup, which had only three draws until then. With this, Egypt took the isolated lead, reaching four points and practically guaranteeing a place in the knockout stages.
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New Zealand surprises Egypt in the first half
Even before opening the scoring, the New Zealanders already had control of the match in Vancouver. In the sixth minute, after a counterattack, Singh received the ball at the edge of the area and filled the ball, but the ball went to the right of the goal.
Seven minutes later, another arrival from the All Whites. After winning the split with Hany, Stamenic threw it to Just, who hit and stopped in Shobeir’s defense.
After trying so hard, New Zealand scored on the next corner. Tim Payne took the shot with precision and found the head of 1.90m defender Surman. He tested hard, with no chance for the Egyptian goalkeeper.
Egypt’s best chance came in the 26th minute. After Ashour’s play, Marmoush received the ball in the area and hit the goal, but goalkeeper Crocombe worked twice to avoid the goal.
Zico leads Egypt’s comeback
Pressured by the fans, who were the noisy majority in the stadium, the Egyptian team came back much stronger for the second half. With just a few seconds, Salah had already made Crocombe work to avoid the equalizer.
In the 9th minute, Surman scored “another goal”. This is because the New Zealand defender avoided a clear chance from the Egyptian Zico, blocking the shot that would have gone into the goal with his knee.
Four minutes later, there was no way. With the name of a star in honor of Flamengo’s idol, Zico took advantage of a great cross from Hany, rose well and headed strong, past goalkeeper Crocombe.
At 21 minutes of the final stage, the top scorer became a waiter. The star Salah brought the ball in from the right, created a beautiful link with Zico and played with skill, moving the archer to turn the score around.
The goal that killed the game came in the 36th minute. Trezeguet, who had recently joined, scored another header in the game, taking advantage of a corner taken by Salah.
Group situation and upcoming games
The Egyptian victory was the first victory in four games in group G of the World Cup. With this, of course, Egypt takes the lead alone, adding four points in two rounds.
After two draws, Belgium and Iran have two points, while New Zealand has one. In other words, in the final round, everyone will arrive with a chance of qualifying.
Egypt faces Iran in Seattle, while New Zealand continues in Vancouver to face Belgium. The games will be simultaneous, midnight from Friday (26) to Saturday (27).
