Mohamed Salah scored his first goal of the tournament as part of a second-half flurry to deliver Egypt their first-ever World Cup victory, 3-1, over New Zealand in Vancouver.
New Zealand took a first-half lead when Finn Surman headed home Tim Payne’s well-placed corner in the 15th minute as the All Whites dreamed of securing their first win in this competition. The Kiwis squandered leads twice in their opening game draw with Iran and ended up doing the same here.
Egypt had more control and more of the chances in the second half, starting immediately when Salah pressured Crocombe into a save less than 40 seconds in. But the Pharaohs finally broke through in the 58th minute. Mohamed Hany landed a perfect cross for Mostafa Zico – named after the great Brazilian player -, whose header near the 6-yard line struck Crocombe’s glove on its way in.
Salah’s turn came nine minutes later. Zico connected with Salah up the right side on a transition play. He dribbled around his man into the box and tapped a pass ahead to Zico, who back-heeled it into a pocket of space for Salah to finish with a left-footed shot to the bottom-left corner.
The former Liverpool forward then delivered a corner for substitute Trezeguet to head home in the 82nd minute. Egypt’s first victory in their fourth World Cup – their first appearance was in 1934 – means they will win the group if they beat Iran on Saturday. “In years to come, we will remember that this was one of the achievements in history,” Salah said.
