All Whites World Cup dreams in tatters after stunning Egypt comeback in Vancouver
Monday, 22 June 2026
At BC Place, Vancouver: Egypt 3 (Mostafa Zico 58’, Mohamed Salah 67’, Trézéguet 82’) All Whites 1 (Finn Surman 15’). HT: 0-1.
Vancouver: For 43 minutes on Sunday evening in Vancouver, the All Whites had every reason to believe their first FIFA World Cup win might be coming.
Finn Surman gave New Zealand the lead after 15 minutes in front of a 52,497-strong crowd at BC Place.
But it was Egypt who ultimately secured their first World Cup win, by a 3-1 scoreline.
Kiwi dreams were crushed in the second half, where Egypt scored three in 24 minutes, including a go-ahead goal from Mohamed Salah that left the All Whites fuming because of what happened beforehand.
Ben Old had gone down high up the left, but hadn’t been awarded a foul, so was lying on the ground as Egypt raced down the other end and scored, then was kept off the pitch at the restart as his torn shorts needed to be replaced.
The loss means the All Whites have dropped from top to bottom in group G and will now need to beat world No 10 Belgium in their final match to have any chance of advancing to the knockout stage.
Two players were singled out in the pre-match presentation and the respective roars they received said it all.
Eli Just – the All Whites’ goalscoring hero against Iran – was put up on the big screen first and the response was strong.
When Salah – Egypt’s talisman – followed, the noise was deafening.
Even more so five minutes in, when an All Whites passing sequence broke down and he picked up the ball facing forward for the first time.
Sarpreet Singh had New Zealand’s first shot at the end of a flowing move which led to a cross from Liberato Cacace, who looked stronger than he did against Iran.
Salah did Michael Boxall on the right, but Payne was on hand to clean up, and the All Whites did well to escape a period of pressure and get a breather when Cacace won a free kick high up the left.
Marko Stamenić made a sneaky run to get in behind up that flank and found Just in the box, whose shot at the near post was saved by Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir.
Surman became the sixth All White to score at a World Cup when he rose in the middle of the box at a 15th-minute corner and headed Tim Payne’s delivery from the left into the back of the net.
He got the jump on his marker, Mohanad Lashin, cleanly and ran off towards his former Wellington Phoenix team-mate to celebrate, then returned to doing his main job.
“We are top of the group,” chants rang out from the Kiwi supporters, who were suddenly the only ones making any noise.
McCowatt had a hooked shot from an acute angle on the left saved soon after, but the story of the rest of the first half was the All Whites’ disciplined defensive performance.
Boxall and Surman stepped up to pick the pockets of Salah and Omar Marmoush.
McCowatt was unlucky to concede a free kick on the edge of the area and join Singh in picking up a yellow card when he looked to have won the ball cleanly off Emam Ashour, only for Salah to send his shot wide to the left of Max Crocombe’s goal.
Egypt had one more moment of danger in the first half, but Surman put Ashour under enough pressure in the middle of the box to force him to shoot wide.
Crocombe was called on to deny Salah as the second half began with Egypt on the attack. From a free kick soon after, he teed up Marmoush, who copied him in missing wide to the left, while Ashour missed wide to the right with an attempt from way out.
The All Whites tried to hit back when Stamenić picked out run from deep from McCowatt, whose header forced Shobeir to make a reflex save. The corner was on the money for Surman again, but this time the goalkeeper got there first.
Surman got in the way of a shot in the middle of the box by Mostafa Zico, but Egypt’s pressure eventually paid dividends in the 58th minute, when Zico got between Surman and Payne to meet a cross from right back Mohamed Hany.
Crocombe got plenty of his left hand to it, but couldn’t prevent the ball from bulging the back of the net and so it was back to square one, with the Egyptian fans in the crowd roaring once again.
Salah’s go-ahead goal came with the All Whites fuming at Old not getting a whistle. Yasser Ibrahim had challenged him as he ran up the left, then appeared to step on him as he ran through to get play restarted with a throw.
Egypt’s captain received the ball in the middle of the box and fired a low shot past Crocombe’s despairing dive.
The second-half hydration break gave the All Whites some much-needed time to settle, with Jesse Randall and Ryan Thomas entering for Singh and Cacace.
But it was Egypt who scored next to put the contest to bed – substitute Trézéguet with a diving header at the near post at a corner.
They had been surging in the second half regardless of what happened with Old, but coach Darren Bazeley could be seen asking referee Omar Al-Ali about it at the final whistle.