The 2026 World Cup keeps tearing up its own script, and Belgium vs Egypt was the latest page in the shredder. The Pharaohs walked into a Group G matchup against a Belgian side everyone had penciled into the knockouts and immediately punched them in the mouth. Emam Ashour buried the opener around the 19th minute, then took a full-body cannonball from a teammate that should probably be reviewed by FIFA's medical staff before the next match.
Ashour's finish and the airborne dogpile that followed.
That goal flipped the whole vibe of the group. Belgium has spent the better part of a decade being labeled a golden generation that never quite cashed in, and starting your tournament a goal down to Egypt is not the soft launch anyone in red was looking for. Kevin De Bruyne, doing Kevin De Bruyne things, came within a paint-job of dragging them back into it just after the hour mark — a clean look that the Egyptian keeper somehow turned away.
De Bruyne inches from leveling it, scoreboard reading BEL 0 EGY 1.
Cue Big Rom. Romelu Lukaku has been a punching bag for years — every big tournament cycle ends with somebody writing his obituary — and the second he checked into this game, the equalizer arrived. Ten seconds. That's it. He bullied his way into the box, forced the Egyptian defense into a panic, and the ball ended up in their own net. 1-1, and Belgium had a lifeline they barely earned.
Lukaku's cameo forcing the own goal that made it 1-1.
Which brings us to the broader read on this tournament. Nothing — and I mean nothing — has gone according to the pre-tournament chalk. Group G was supposed to be a Belgian formality. Instead Egypt is grabbing points, De Bruyne is still chasing his white whale of a deep World Cup run, and Lukaku of all people is the guy bailing out the favorites. Buckle up, because if the group stage is doing this, the knockouts are going to be unhinged.
Nothing is going according to script this World Cup man. Absolutely nothing
A draw isn't fatal for Belgium, but it puts real pressure on the rest of their group slate. For Egypt, it's a statement — they punched, they took a punch, and they walk out of Day 1 with a point off one of the bracket's supposed heavyweights. The script is in the shredder. Good.