Egypt Secures Historic World Cup Win Over New Zealand

For 92 years, Egypt kept coming to World Cups and leaving without a win. Three editions, no victories, only regret and what-ifs.

In Vancouver, that ended – of course – with Mohamed Salah at the heart of it.

The 34-year-old scored one and made another as Egypt overturned a sluggish first half and a 1-0 deficit to beat New Zealand 3-1, finally banking their first-ever World Cup win and stepping to the brink of the knockout stages.

It did not start like a night for the history books. It started with doubt.

New Zealand strike, Egypt sleepwalk

New Zealand arrived as underdogs but played the opening half-hour like the favourites. They were sharper, braver on the ball, and far more convincing in both boxes.

Mostafa Shobeir had already been forced into a smart save at his near post from Elijah Just on 14 minutes when the warning went unheeded. From the resulting corner, Finn Surman simply attacked the ball while Egypt stood and watched. Unmarked, he powered his header in. One-nil, and fully deserved.

Egypt’s response was timid. Salah, tightly marshalled and on the periphery, saw his one real chance in the first half come from a rehearsed free-kick. Omar Marmoush rolled it short, Salah bent it around the wall – and wide of the left-hand post. Symbolic of Egypt’s opening 45 minutes: close, but nowhere near enough.

New Zealand, by contrast, looked composed. They dominated possession, moved Egypt around and threatened again early in the second half when Callum McCowatt’s looping header forced Shobeir to tip over. Darren Bazeley’s side had control and a lead. Egypt had a problem.

Hassan’s interval jolt – and a different Egypt

Whatever Hossam Hassan said in that dressing room, it landed.

Egypt emerged after the break with a different tempo, a different edge. The passing snapped, the runs were more aggressive, the duels suddenly belonged to the men in red. New Zealand, who had been so assured, were now being forced backwards.

The pressure finally told just before the hour.

Mohamed Hany, pushed higher and given licence to deliver, found space on the right and whipped in a teasing cross. Mostafa Ziko, completely unchallenged – a mirror image of Surman’s first-half header – rose and buried it. One-all, Egypt alive, the stadium transformed.

New Zealand wobbled. Egypt smelled it.

Salah’s trademark finish flips the night

This was the moment Vancouver had been waiting for.

Ten minutes after the equaliser, Egypt broke at speed. Ziko and Salah combined, trading passes through the heart of a stretched New Zealand defence. The move ended where it always threatened to: at Salah’s left foot.

The former Liverpool forward opened up his body and swept the ball home with that familiar, almost inevitable finish he has repeated so many times in the Premier League. Egypt led for the first time. A trademark goal, on a landmark night.

It was not just the strike that mattered. With it, Salah became the oldest player ever to score for Egypt at a World Cup, and the oldest African player on record to both score and assist in a World Cup game. Even at 34, on the back of a quieter final season at Anfield, he remains Egypt’s reference point on the biggest stage.

The pattern of his World Cup career stayed intact too. He scored in both of his appearances in 2018, against Russia and Saudi Arabia. He assisted against Belgium in this tournament. He scored and assisted here. Every World Cup game he plays, he leaves a mark.

Trezeguet seals it, Egypt dares to dream

New Zealand tried to respond, but the initiative had gone. Egypt were now playing with the freedom of a team sensing something bigger than three points.

On 82 minutes, the contest was effectively settled – again from Salah’s boot.

This time he drifted over to the left to take a corner. The delivery was precise, arcing into the danger zone where substitute Trezeguet attacked it with conviction, diving to head past Max Crocombe. Three-one. The icing, the release, the roar.

There was still time for a late flourish that might have added gloss. Deep into stoppage time, substitute Zizo rounded Crocombe but hesitated, allowing a defender to recover and block. No fourth goal, but by then it hardly mattered.

The job was done. The drought was over.

A night of regret for New Zealand

For Bazeley and New Zealand, the feeling was the opposite: opportunity squandered.

“We were so good in the first half,” he said afterwards. They were. They had dominated, created chances, and controlled the tempo. But when Egypt raised theirs, New Zealand could not follow.

“Egypt upped the tempo and we couldn't replicate what we were doing so well in the first half. Ultimately, that hurt us,” Bazeley admitted. Now their path is brutally simple: they must beat Belgium to keep their own dream of making history alive.

Salah still among the superstars

This tournament has been labelled the World Cup of the superstar. On this evidence, Salah still belongs firmly in that conversation.

He left Liverpool at the end of the 2025/26 season with questions about how long he could stay at the top. In Vancouver, he answered some of them with his feet. One goal, one assist, and a performance that dragged his country to a place it had never been before: a World Cup victory.

“It’s incredible,” he told fifa.com. “It’s a great achievement for all the players, for the staff… hopefully we can carry on like this in the group, and we can write history and qualify.”

Egypt will enjoy this, as he urged them to. They have earned that right. But the real test is still coming.

They are now within touching distance of the knockout stages for the first time. With Salah in this kind of mood, who dares bet against them writing another chapter?