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Belgium and Egypt kickstart their World Cup campaigns tonight in the Group G opener.
They're two teams that are not necessarily fancied to trouble the latter stages of the tournament, but there are some huge names worth paying attention to.
Here's a look ahead to how the Belgium vs Egypt clash might go down at Seattle Stadium tonight.
Belgium vs Egypt prediction
For a good decade or more, Belgium were regarded as one of the top teams in Europe, with a golden generation of players including Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, and Eden Hazard.
That golden generation didn't exactly work out, though, and it's safe to say that Rudi Garcia now has a more humble roster available to him for the World Cup 2026.
Still, with De Bruyne looking to make his mark (probably for one last time at a World Cup), and the likes of Youri Tielemans, Jeremy Doku, and Matias Fernandez-Pardo coming into the tournament in good form, Belgium are still a team capable of turning on the style.
One area they will be concerned about is in attack, though. Alexis Saelemekars, Diego Moreira, and Dodi Lukebakio have just seven goals between them in 2025/26 and if Lukaku is unavailable, it will be hard for Garcia to fill that void.
Belgium were unbeaten in qualification, though, and should have enough to get the better of Egypt, at least on paper.
For the African side, it's pretty much all about Mohamed Salah.
Salah may be ranked at No.1 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League wingers of all time, but he's had a tough time of it this past season with Liverpool after falling out of favour with Arne Slot.
Still, the talismanic forward will be a marked man against Belgium, and even if he's not able to find a breakthrough, Man City's Omar Marmoush is a suitably dangerous foil.
It will likely be a tight affair, with two hard-working teams that rely heavily on their attacking line.
The strength of the Belgium defence will be the big difference-maker here, then.
- Score prediction: Belgium 2-1 Egypt
