Belgium win the group and reach the World Cup 2026 knockouts, Egypt to face Australia

In the final round of the group stage, Belgium thrashed New Zealand 5-1. After a sluggish start, the Red Devils improved and finished the match with an emphatic victory. Alexis Saelemaekers scored Belgium’s fifth goal after smart hold-up play from Romelu Lukaku.

Belgium finished with 5 points and edged Egypt on goal difference. In the Round of 32, Belgium will face one of the teams that finished third in its group.

Egypt also collected 5 points but remained in second place. In their final group-stage match, the Pharaohs drew 1-1 with Iran.

Egypt took an early lead: in the 5th minute, Mahmoud Saber fired the ball through the legs of Alireza Beiranvand. Iran almost immediately had a chance to equalize, but Mehdi Taremi missed a penalty. However, the Iranians soon found their goal: after Milad Mohammadi’s effort, the ball fell to Ramin Rezaeian, who made no mistake from close range.

Iran came close to winning the match in the final stages. Taremi hit the crossbar, Shoja Khalilzadeh then had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, and Saeid Ezatolahi also sent a header against the bar.

Egypt have reached the World Cup knockout stage for the first time and will face Australia in the Round of 32 in Dallas.

Iran finished third in the group with 3 points but have not yet guaranteed a place in the playoffs. They still need to finish ahead of one more team in the ranking of the best third-placed sides.

At the same time, the result of Egypt vs Iran helped Senegal: thanks to Iran’s draw, the African side have already secured a place in the knockout stage through the best third-placed teams ranking.

New Zealand ended their World Cup campaign after the defeat to Belgium.