Egypt held Belgium to a 1-1 draw in their Group G opener at the World Cup in Seattle on Monday, coming tantalisingly close to their first ever victory at the global finals.
Emam Ashour put the Egyptians ahead in the first half, before Mohamed Hany put the ball into his own net under pressure from Romelu Lukaku.
Here are SuperSport.com’s ratings of the African team’s performance from the match:
Oufa Shobeir (7): Shobeir was handed the No 1 jersey and did not disappoint with a string of fine saves. He commanded his box well and could do little about the Belgium equaliser.
Mohamed Hany (6): Much of the focus will go on the own goal he scored as he was caught in an awkward position facing his own goal. But up until then he had been doing well, and won eight of his 11 duels in the game.
Yasser Ibrahim (6): Looked a little all at sea at times as Belgium applied the pressure and was also outmuscled by Lukaku for the goal. Made some good clearances from crosses.
Hamdi Fathy (6): Won seven of his 11 duels and might have hoped for a higher per centage than that. Made five clearances, which was good, to go with a key interception.
Ahmed Fatouh (7): Only won 50 per cent of his duels but had four recoveries and was excellent going forward, offering an attacking outlet on the left flank. Had eight out of 10 accurate passes in the final third.
Marwan Attia (6): All four of his passes into the box went astray in what was a real issue for the Egyptians in the final third. Had a half-chance to shoot but his effort was blocked.
Mohanad Lasheen (6): The defensive midfielder worked hard and was industrious, but also let his man past on three occasions. Only won 10 of his 17 duels.
Ziko (6): Was muscled off the ball too easily on several occasions and needs to learn to be stronger at this level. Did have four progressive carries of the ball.
Mohamed Salah (7): Chances were few and far between but he did have one headed effort that was clawed away by Thibaut Courtois. Always looked to bring others into the game but was not successful with any of his three dribbles.
Emam Ashour (7): Scored the goal and it was a superb one too as he rifled the ball low into the bottom corner of the net from outside the box. It has to be special to beat a keeper of Courtois’ quality from there. But he missed another great chance in the second half when he skewed his shot wide with not a defender in sight.
Omar Marmoush (7): Lively up front and had five shots on goal from inside the Belgium box, three of which were blocked. The best chance, when he burst clear in the second half, he put wide under pressure from the defender.
Rami Rabia (6): Came on for Ashour with 19 minutes remaining but battled to make an impact.
Zizo, Hamza Abdelkarim, Ibrahim Adel and Karim Hafez were not on the pitch long enough for a rating.
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