Belgium, Egypt through to W’Cup knockouts, New Zealand crash out
Belgium showed no mercy as it stunned World Cup Group G opponents New Zealand 5-1 to book their place in the last 32 with an emphatic victory at the BC Place in Vancouver, Canada.
Leandro Trossard hit a double while midfielder Kevin De Bruyne scored his first goal at the 2026 World Cup in a dominant win over New Zealand which sends them out of the soccer tournament.
Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard opened the floodgate of goals in the 28th minute scoring from a corner rebound and later added a second goal in the 50th minute of the game.
Napoli midfielder Kevin De Bruyne scored the third goal in the 66th minute when he fired home a signature low strike from outside the penalty box.
New Zealand pulled one goal back when Elijah Just scored in the 84th minute of the game but Romelu Lukaku replied with a powerful header two minutes later to make it 4-1 after coming on as a substitute.
Belgium’s five-star performance was sealed when Alexis Saelemaekers scored in stoppage time 90+4′ minute to end the game on a high for his team.
In the other Group G game, Iran held Egypt to a 1-1 draw at the Seattle Stadium in a game that ended with VAR ruling out a Shojae Khalilzadeh goal at the very end of the encounter.
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Mahmoud Saber opened scoring for Egypt as early as the 5th minute of the game when he slipped the ball home after strong link-up play from his teammate Mohamed Salah.
Iran missed an opportunity to even scores in the 11th minute when Mehdi Taremi won a penalty for his team but his poor shot on goal was saved by the Egyptian goalkeeper, Mostafa Shobeir.
However, Iran got a well deserved equaliser in the 14th minute of the game when Ramin Rezaeian took advantage of a rebound to hit home a goal from a tight angle to ensure both teams share the spoils.
Belgium and Egypt both automatically qualified for the Round of 32 while Iran with 3 points awaits third place table permutations.
Key match stats: Belgium Vs New Zealand
Final Score: New Zealand 1, Belgium 5
Possession: New Zealand 45%, Belgium 55%
Total Shots: New Zealand 6, Belgium 35
Shots on Goal: New Zealand 2, Belgium 10
Expected Goals (xG): New Zealand 0.25, Belgium 3.69
Accurate Passes: New Zealand 369 (85%), Belgium 463 (88%)
Touches in the Box: New Zealand 6, Belgium 77
Corners: New Zealand 1, Belgium 10
Key match stats: Egypt Vs Iran
Ball possession: Egypt 61% – Iran 39%
Attempts: Egypt 15- Iran 12
On target: Egypt 3- Iran 4
Corners: Egypt 8- Iran 2
Offsides: Egypt 0- Iran 3
Yellow cards: Egypt 3- Iran 4
Passes: Egypt 512- Iran 281
