Hosts Egypt kicked off their U-20 World Cup campaign in superb fashion, outclassing Trinidad and Tobago 4-1 on Thursday. Egypt, who played in front of a sell-out crowd at the 80,000-seat Egyptian Army Stadium in Alexandria, took the lead via a brilliant Afroto strike to send the home fans into raptures. Jean Luc Rochford equalized nine minutes before the break but the Pharaohs opened the floodgates in the second period to claim an opening victory. A brace from central midfielder Hossam Arafat either side of Mohamed Talaat's goal were enough to hand Egypt all three points. Paraguay meet Italy in the other Group A game on Friday. Egypt survived an early scare when keeper Ali Lotfi blocked a powerful-free kick from defender Uriah Bentick. The hosts then dominated play, thanks to the energetic moves of Afroto and some neat passes from Arafat. Attacking midfielder Ahmed Magdi almost broke the deadlock on 28 minutes when he cut inside and hit a left-footed shot from just inside the area but it narrowly missed the target.
Egypt too good for Trinidad Afroto, who plays for Cairo giants Ahli, made amends two minutes later after a brilliant solo effort. The speedy forward made a darting run through the opposing defense from deep to slot past Trinidad keeper Glenroy Samuel. A defensive lapse allowed Trinidad to pull one back when Rochford pounced on Salah Soliman's inability to clear the danger to fire past Lotfi from inside the area. Poor Goalkeeping Some poor goalkeeping from Samuel helped Egypt restore their advantage six minutes after the restart. His mis-timed jump did not allow him to collect a harmless cross as the ball fell to Arafat, whose right-footed shot went in off the post. Samuel was at fault again for Egypt's third goal on 59 minutes, fumbling a shot into the path of striker Talaat to tap the ball into the net and atone for missing several goalscoring opportunities earlier in the game. Trinidad were unlucky not to narrow the gap afterwards as Lotfi continuously thwarted their efforts. They also saw a shot from substitute Juma Clarence strike the post with four minutes remaining. Arafat scored his second of the night in stoppage time to complete the rout, thanks to a fierce drive from inside the area.
