Belgium and Egypt face each other this Monday at 21.00 in Seattle, opening their World Cup campaigns in a meeting that immediately shapes Group G. It is the first chance to see whether the side led by Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Rudi García can match the billing attached to them before the tournament began.
The match has been framed as a clash between the two strongest teams in Group G of the Mundial 2026, which is why it has drawn attention before a ball has been kicked. Belgium arrives as one of the teams expected to set the pace in the section, while Egypt returns to a World Cup eight years after the Mundial de Rusia 2018, where it failed to earn a single point in the first phase.
That expectation carries a warning. Belgium opened this tournament after a brutal fall in the group stage of the last edition, when it was drawn with Marruecos, Croacia and Canadá and went out far earlier than it had planned. For a side presented again as one of the group favorites, that memory is the backdrop to every step it takes now.
The setup is clear enough to matter beyond the opening whistle. A live contest in Seattle, confirmed lineups and players already on the pitch for warm-up leave no doubt that the match is real and immediate, even if the final score is not yet known. What comes next will decide whether Belgium turns its reputation into control, or whether Egypt uses its return to the World Cup to disturb the script from the start.
