Full time: Belgium 3-0 Egypt The referee blows his final whistle, Egypt lose 3-0 to Belgium in their last World Cup warm-up 90+2' Marouane Fellaini adds the third with a simple finish into an empty net after Michy Batshuayi bamboozles central defender Ali Gabr. 90+2' Goal for Belgium! 90' No action in the dying minutes, with both sides moving the ball around aimlessly. 85' A curling shot from Adnan Januzaj is collected by Egypt keeper El-Shennawi. 81' A chance for Belgium! A shot from Batshuayi goes just over the crossbar from inside the area. 79' Egypt make another substitution. The injured Warda makes way for midfielder Omar Gaber. 78' A chance for Egypt! A cross is flicked to Ali Gabr at the far post but his header is too weak to trouble Courtois. 77' Egypt winger Amr Warda looks to be suffering from an injury. 74' Egypt make some swift moves in the final third, but their final pass remains inaccurate. 71' Another substitution for Egypt, Ahmed Elmohamady replaces Ahmed Fathi. 69' A poor save from El-Shennawi results in a corner for Belgium after a tame low shot. 68' Egypt's Mohamed Elneny receievs a yellow card. 67' Another substitution for Egypt, winger Mahmoud Kahraba replaces Ramadan Sobhi. 67' Egypt look better than Belgium in the second half, but they still lack the finishing touch. 64' Another chance for Egypt! Ramadan is released by a deft pass from Trezeguet but he dithers on the ball to allow his marker to thwart him. 63' A weak shot from Ramadan Sobhi from the edge of the area is collected by Courtois. 62' Egypt make another substitution. Wigan midfielder Sam Morsy replaces Tarek Hamed. 61' A chance for Belgium! Thomas Meunier fires a firs-timer high over despite being under no pressure in the area. 61' Belgium's attack is clearly affected by the substitution of Hazard. 58' Trezeguet spurns a golden chance just moments after his introduction! He exchanges passes with Abdallah El-Saied to break clear but his tame effort is saved by Courtois with the goal at his mercy! 56' Egypt make their second substitution. Winger Mahmoud Trezeguet replaces striker Marwan Mohsen. 55' At the other end, Tarek Hamed also sends a hopeful long-range shot that goes high over. 52' Toby Alderweireld tries his luck from distance but his shot goes over the bar. 52' Egypt launch a promising counter attack but striker Mohsen dithers on the ball to allow Belgium's defence to quickly recover. 50' Both sides make a calm start to the second half. 46' Belgium make three substitutions, taking off Lukaku for Michy Batshuayi. 46' Egypt make their first substitution, Hadary is replaced by Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawi. The second half is underway The referee blows his halftime whistle 44' A pull-back from Fathi goes begging! Egypt fail to make the most of their few chances. 42' Egypt are outplayed by a powerful Belgium side. 38' Hazard makes it 2-0 for Belgium! Fathi is dispossessed by Carrasco on the left and he pulls the ball back to the Chelsea playmaker to rifle home a shot into the roof of the net. 38' Goal for Belgium! 36' Egypt are still cautious after falling behind, but they are relying on counter attacks to equalise. 34' Fathi makes a great interception to prevent De Bruyne from skipping past him on the left hand side of the area. 31' Hazard fires high over with the goal at his mercy after a loose ball rolls into his path! 31' Belgium are still laying siege to Egypt's area after going ahead. 29' A free kick from Mertens goes high over the crossbar. 27' Lukaku puts Belgium in front with an easy tap-in after a low shot from Hazard is pushed by Hadary into his path. 27' Goal for Belgium! 26' Egypt's defence is restricting Belgium to some tame efforts. 23' A goal-scoring chance for Egypt! Marwan is picked out unmarked by a left-wing cross from Abdel-Shafi but his header goes just wide of the post. Egypt create their first real chance. 21' What a chance for Belgium! Lukaku misses a sitter! The Manchester United striker fires wide from close range after a low cross from the right. Television replays show that he is offside though. 19' Egypt improve as the match wears on. Will they be able to catch Belgium by surprise? 17' In a fine counter attack for Egypt, Mohsen drops to the midfield, holds off his challenger and feeds Warda on the right. The Greek-based winger then sends a diagonal cross to playmaker Abdallah El-Saied, whose shot from inside the area is deflected off a defender for a corner. 14' Hadary pulls off a great save to tip over a shot from Dries Mertens after a lay-off from Hazard on the edge of the area. 12' In Egypt's first foray forward, a cross from left-back Abdel-Shafi is cleared by the defence but Mohamed Elneny pounces on the loose ball on the edge of the area, firing a powerful shot that strikes a defender. 10' Ali Gabr clears away a cross from Hazard as Belgium pile on pressure. 8' Belgium are awarded a free kick on the left for a foul committed by Ahmed Fathi on Yannick Carrasco. Fathi receives a yellow card. 6' A chance for Belgium! a low cross from De Bruyne eludes a couple of defenders but a last-ditch interception by winger Amr Warda clears the danger at the far post. 5' A tame cross by Axel Witsel is easily collected by Egypt's 45-year-old keeper Hadary. 3' Hamed is known for his combative style, which saw him get booked very early! 1' Egypt midfielder Tarek Hamed receives a yellow card after a rough challenge on Eden Hazard in midfield. The match is underway 20:35 Players are back to the dressing rooms. Game will start in 10 minutes. 20:25 Players arew warming up ahead of the game now. 20:10 Coach Cuper has opted to start with Amr Warda on the right flank instead of Mahmoud Trezeguet. 20:00 Belgium starting XI Thibaut Courtois - Jan Vertonghen, Laurent Ciman, Toby Alderweireld - Yannick Carrasco, Axel Witsel, Kevin de Bruyne, Thomas Meunier - Dries Mertens, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku 19:45 Elneny has recovered from an ankle injury sustained with Arsenal last month. It is his first game with Egypt. 19:20 Egypt starting lineup: Essam El-Hadary - Ahmed Fathi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Hegazi, Mohamed Abdel-Shafi - Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed, Abdallah El-Said, Ramadan Sobhi, Amr Warda - Marwan Mohsen. 18:30 Egypt will appear in white shirts and socks and black shorts with the keeper in blue, while Belgium will be in red and their keeper in black. 18:00 But Belgium are now a much different side, boasting some of the world's greats such as Chelsea winger Eden Hazard and Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. They played out a 0-0 draw with European champions Portugal in their previous friendly on Saturday. 17:30 Egypt crushed Belgium 4-0 the last time they met in a friendly game in February 2015. 17:00 Cuper announced Egypt's 23-man World Cup squad on Monday, surprising observers with his decision to include only one out-and-out striker in Ahly's Marwan Mohsen. 16:30 “But all of our players are experienced and have quality. Although Salah is very important to us, football remains a collective game and we have to believe in that; and accordingly we will not alter our strategy because of the absence of any player," Cuper added. 16:00 “Salah is recovering well from the injury. According to the information I got, he may be fit for the game against Uruguay,” Cuper told a news conference on Tuesday. 15:30 It seems that Egypt would also find it difficult to cope with the absence of star forward Mohamed Salah, who is facing a race against time to be fit for the opening World Cup clash against Uruguay on 15 June.
15:00 Some angry fans said on social media that Cuper's “negative strategies” will do Egypt no favours in their quest to advance from Group A, which includes South American powerhouses Uruguay, hosts Russia and Arab Gulf side Saudi Arabia.
14:30 The team's Argentinean coach Hector Cuper has come under fire from many for Egypt's struggle to keep possession or launch any of their trademark counter attacks against Colombia.
13:50 Egypt also appeared lackluster in a 1-1 draw with modest Kuwait in a World Cup warm-up last month before surviving a Colombia onslaught to hold their illustrious opponents to a 0-0 stalemate in the Italian city of Bergamo last Saturday. 13:15 They played out a 1-1 draw away to Ghana in a meaningless qualifier before slumping to 2-1 and 1-0 losses to Portugal and Greece respectively in two friendly matches in March. 13:15 The Pharaohs have not won any game since their dramatic 2-1 victory at home to Congo last October, which lifted them to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990. 13:00 Egypt will be keen to allay worries over their form ahead of the World Cup when they meet Belgium in another high-profile friendly in Brussels on Wednesday.
Venue: Stade Roi Baudouin (Bruxelles (Brussel)) (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
