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12 hours ago
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Key events
GOAL! Belgium 1-1 Egypt (Lukaku 66)
Romelu Lukaku has scored with his first touch!
66 min: Belgium substitution Romelu Lukaku, 33, replaces Charle De Ketelaere. And…
65 min For the umpteenth time, Salah plays a simple-looking pass that invites Marmouth to use his considerable pace. Marmoush cuts inside on the left of the area and hits a shot that takes a big deflection, .totally wrongfoots Courtois and spins not far wide.
The decision to play Salah as a No10 has worked really well for Egypt.
64 min That De Bruyne shot was Belgium’s first effort on target.
For now at least, De Bruyne’s monstrous strike against Brazil in the 2018 quarter-final remains his last World Cup goal.
62 min: Big chance for De Bruyne!
Belgium’s first corner of the game is taken by De Bruyne on the right. It’s headed away as far as Tielemans on the edge of the D; he hooks a sensational left-foot volley that whistles just wide with Shobeir scrambling across goal.
Seconds later, Meunier’s short cross is swept straight at the keeper by De Bruyne. He was 16 yards out and had to take it on the half-volley; while it wasn’t a sitter, peak De Bruyne would score that at least nine times out of 10.
61 min Doku goes over in the area after trying to zig-zag between Ibrahim and Attia. The referee isn’t interested. In the parlance of our time, Doku was looking for it.
59 min Salah plays a good ball up to Marmoush, all alone on the halfway line. He turns thrillingly away from Ngoy on the halfway line, charges all the way into the area and shoots wide under pressure.
The pressure was applied by Ngoy, who recovered very well after being left for dead on the halfway line.
57 min: Double substitution for Belgium Maxim De Cuyper and Nicolas Raskin replace Timothy Castagne and Amadou Onana.
55 min: Chances plural for Egypt!
Marmoush is superbly challenged in the area by Michele. Egypt win the ball back on the left, where Fotouh (I think) curls an inviting cross into the middle. Salah’s downward header is slapped away by Courtois, a slightly weird save, and Ashour throttles the loose ball miles wide of the far post.
Salah’s was a decent chance; Ashour’s was huge.
53 min: De Bruyne hits the post!
The free-kick is to the left of centre, just outside the width of the goal. De Bruyne wobbles a superb free-kick over the wall that hits the left-hand post and ricochets behind for a goalkick.
52 min At the moment Doku is playing Egypt on his own. He wriggles away from Fathy (I think) and is fouled on the edge of the area. De Bruyne won’t take this free-kick short.
51 min Doku beats his man in the area and stabs a cross that is blocked at source.
Egypt have doubled up really well on Doku.
50 min Doku is fouled 30 yards from goal by his Manchester City team-mate Marmoush.
Their former team-mate De Bruyne is over the freee-kick… and decides to take it short. Kevin!
48 min: Chance for Ziko! The throw-in almost leads, indirectly, to a goal for Egypt. It was deep in their half, but within seconds Ziko was mishitting a left-foot shot from 10 yards after running onto a low cross from the left. His shot was blocked, as was Marmoush’s well-struck follow-up.
48 min Doku waves his arms in frustration when a throw-in is given to Egypt.
46 min Egypt get the second half under way.
More half-time reading
Half-time reading
Half time: Belgium 0-1 Egypt
Salah’s corner from the right is flicked on and missed completely by Courtois, who is relieved to see it evade Lasheen at the far post.
That’s the last action of a good first half for Egypt, who lead through a ferocious drive from Emam Ashour and are dreaming of their first win at a World Cup. Belgium had more of the ball and not a single shot on target.
45+3 min A poor backheader from Ngoy is collected on the left side of the area by Marmoush. His shot from a very tight angle – an almost impossible angle – is kicked behind by Courtois.
45+1 min: Chance for Doku!
A long throw from the left is laid off deftly by De Ketelerare to Doku, who slashes high and wide from 12 yards. The bounce made it slightly more awkward but it was still an excellent chance, the best of the game at either end.
45 min Four minutes of added time.
42 min Salah leads a promising Egypt break, realises the supporrt isn’t all that and instead plays the ball back to one of his defensive teammates. Egypt are happy to see this through to half-time.
39 min Trossard has a pop from the edge of the area, this time with his left foot. He connects, though not as cleanly as he’d like, and it’s forced away by an Egypt defender.
38 min De Bruyne’s cross is missed by a defender and reaches Doku on the right side of the area. He cuts the ball back to Trossard, who fresh-airs a first-time shot from 10 yards. Not the easiest chance, but we’ve seen him score those.
37 min It’s around 30 degrees at Seattle Stadium. According to Steve Bower on the BBC, the last two days have been the hottest in Seattle for 30 years.
34 min Belgium break from the resulting corner and and Fotouh is booked for wiping out Doku.
33 min: Good save by Courtois!
Egypt work the ball from left to right, where Ziko moves into the area and cracks a low drive across goal from a tight angle. Courtois gets down very smartly to his right to push it round the far post.
32 min Doku beats Hany on the left but is strongly challenged by the covering Attia. Belgium have been all hat and no cattle so far.
29 min “This is the first hydration break I’ve seen where the pitch is watered too,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “And what semantics is this hydration break ? Is drinks break too passe for elite football?”
Didn’t you get the Memo for Modern Life: never use one syllable when three are available.
28 min De Bruyne forces a flying save from Shobeir, though the whistle had gone moments earlier for a foul on Ashour.
