Egypt send Australia down under on penalties to reach first round of 16 in 92 years

[p]A stunning long-range effort from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/xSrf6qMM/"]Australia[/a]’s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/volpato-cristian/2B5YqXFG/"]Cristian Volpato[/a] clipped the top of the bar after just five minutes in Texas, and almost directly afterwards, only a last-ditch tackle from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a]’s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rabia-rami/bwAESBbp/"]Rami Rabia[/a] stopped [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bos-jordan/fZFBMyjl/"]Jordan Bos[/a] from opening the scoring after he’d run straight through their defence.[/p][p][b]However, with their first attempt on target in the 13th minute, Egypt took the lead, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ashour-emam/fuSVhCZ5/"]Emam Ashour[/a] stooping low at the far post to guide [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/karim-hafez/tpYqCdRB/"]Karim Hafez[/a]’s delicious cross home.[/b][/p][p]Although Australia then began to settle into their rhythm more quickly, Egypt looked the more incisive in attack.[/p][p]With half an hour played, the Socceroos still hadn’t managed a shot on target, and when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/behich-aziz/pnjldJ6K/"]Aziz Behich[/a] eventually did, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/oufa-shobeir/0vgRIJk9/"]Mostafa Shobeir[/a] was equal to it. Dominating possession and attempting over 100 more passes told a story of the Egyptian dominance, though [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salah-mohamed/08FBycgB/"]Mo Salah[/a] remained peripheral as HT approached.[/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="94e4fb5b-60b3-4029-93ab-71140a4c6fa0" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform" guid="285f15e9-a9a5-47f5-a8ce-a659429c3c42" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p]The Pharaohs were still in the ascendancy as the whistle was blown, giving Tony Popovic food for thought ahead of the break.[/p][p]Within 10 seconds of the restart, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marmoush-omar/44pYRYIC/"]Omar Marmoush[/a] was clean through, though the Egyptian couldn’t even hit the target, and as Australia attacked shortly after, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/metcalfe-connor/zqXaHPUa/"]Connor Metcalfe[/a] rose at the far post but could only clean out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hany-mohamed/nyIZP4tk/"]Mohamed Hany[/a] rather than direct the ball goalwards.[/p][p][b]Hany’s game then went from bad to worse as he directed a brilliant delivery from an Australian free-kick into his own net. [/b][/p][p]Clear-cut chances were at a premium from there, until Egypt rallied and applied late pressure on the Socceroos' goal. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/beach-patrick/d6MmYtl5/"]Patrick Beach[/a] made an incredible one-handed save to keep Ramy Rabia's powerful header out, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/souttar-harry/Aw73uj0d/"]Harry Souttar[/a] blocked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/al-hassan-ali/8jl7Fujb/"]Haisem Hassan[/a]'s effort to ensure the game went into ET. [/p][p]Salah’s first sight of goal in the game saw him blast his shot over when well placed, and the match once again took on a familiar pattern thereafter.[/p][embed guid="747d939b-c312-431d-905d-f267c2406e5c" url="https://x.com/Flashscorecom/status/2073139312275640544?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]The extra half-hour saw neither goalkeeper overly worked, though with two minutes left, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ryan-mathew/YBLvziIh/"]Mathew Ryan[/a] was brought on for Beach between the sticks, no doubt with a view to pulling off some heroics in the penalty shootout.[/p][p]Souttar blazed the first spot-kick over to hand Egypt, who had lost their last four shootouts, an immediate advantage, one they never looked like surrendering. Salah's audacious Panenka epitomised their belief, and 18-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/herrington-lucas/4ApZ8wCi/"]Lucas Herrington[/a] missing for Australia presented [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hossam-abdelmaguid/h2HkF6cf/"]Hossam Abdelmaguid[/a] with the chance to win it, which he took with aplomb to send them through to the last 16.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salah-mohamed/08FBycgB/"]Mohamed Salah[/a] (Egypt)[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/australia-xSrf6qMM/egypt-bejDn7NN/?mid=Whg00tL7"]Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]