Salah Leads Egypt to Historic Comeback Win Over New Zealand
Egypt waited 92 years for this. In Vancouver, with their backs pressed against the same old World Cup wall, Mohamed Salah finally kicked it down.
The Pharaohs, winless at World Cups in 1934, 1990 and 2018, were staring at another grim chapter when New Zealand’s Finn Surman punished slack marking from a corner and thumped the All Whites into a deserved first-half lead. Egypt looked flat, hesitant, almost resigned. Salah, so often the man for the moment, barely had one. His only real sight of goal before the break was a free-kick bent the wrong side of the left-hand post.
The wait for a World Cup win felt like it might stretch on again.
Egypt wake up – and New Zealand feel the shift
Whatever Hossam Hassan said in that dressing room did not stay there. Egypt emerged after half-time transformed, with Salah suddenly sharper, Omar Marmoush more direct, and the full-backs driving high. New Zealand, who had controlled the tempo and the ball in the opening 45 minutes, were pushed backwards.
There had been warning signs early on. Mostafa Shobeir had already kept Egypt in it with a sharp save at his near post from Elijah Just, then later had to arch back and tip a looping Callum McCowatt header over the bar. New Zealand were confident, composed, and when Surman was left alone at a corner to make it 1-0, the pattern looked set.
Then the game flipped.
Egypt’s attacks suddenly carried an edge. New Zealand, so comfortable before the interval, started to defend deeper, then deeper still. The pressure finally told just before the hour. Mohamed Hany, given time to measure from the right, whipped in a teasing cross. Mostafa Ziko, completely unmarked in a mirror image of Surman’s first-half goal, rose and buried his header. 1-1, and the stadium felt different.
New Zealand wobbled. Egypt smelled it.
Salah’s trademark finish, at a historic moment
The equaliser didn’t just level the score; it lit Salah’s fuse.
Nine minutes later, Egypt broke with the kind of speed that used to terrorise Premier League defences. Ziko and Salah combined at pace, a slick one-two slicing through New Zealand’s midfield. Salah drifted into that familiar pocket on the right, the angle opening up just enough. One touch to set, one to sweep. Low, precise, ruthless.
He has scored that goal a hundred times for Liverpool. This one meant more.
The strike not only put Egypt ahead for the first time in a World Cup match since 2018, it also carved Salah’s name even deeper into his country’s history. At 34, he became Egypt’s oldest World Cup goalscorer and the oldest African player on record to both score and assist in a World Cup game. The numbers keep stacking up: he has now either scored or assisted in every World Cup match he has played.
Russia. Saudi Arabia. Belgium. Now New Zealand. Different opponents, same outcome – Salah on the sheet.
Trezeguet seals it as Egypt close in on knockouts
New Zealand tried to rally. They still carried a threat, and Egypt knew a single lapse could drag them back into familiar heartbreak. But the African side now played with the authority of a team sensing something bigger than just three points.
On 82 minutes, the result was wrapped in the most fitting way possible – from the left boot of their captain. Salah, now roaming and dictating, swung in a corner from the right. Substitute Trezeguet attacked it with conviction, diving in front of his marker and planting his header past Max Crocombe.
From 0-1 down to 3-1 up. From decades of frustration to a first-ever World Cup win. The roar from the Egyptian end told its own story.
There was still time for one more chance. Deep into stoppage time, Zizo rounded Crocombe and seemed certain to add a fourth, only to hesitate and see his shot blocked. It hardly mattered. The damage had been done long before.
The World Cup of superstars – and Salah still belongs
This tournament has been billed as the World Cup of the superstar. In Vancouver, Salah showed he remains firmly in that bracket.
His club season with Liverpool in 2025/26, his last at Anfield, did not always carry the same electricity of his peak years. Yet in national colours, under the brightest lights, he has stepped forward again. An assist against Belgium, a goal and assist against New Zealand, records falling as Egypt edge towards the knockout rounds.
After the match, Salah called the victory “a great achievement for all the players, for the staff” and spoke of a team hoping to “write history and qualify” so that this run is remembered as one of Egypt’s greatest footballing feats. You could see in his face he knew exactly what this night meant.
On the other side, New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley could only reflect on what slipped away. His side “dominated possession and created a lot of chances” in a strong first half, but once Egypt “upped the tempo”, they could not match it. The equation is now brutally simple for them: they must beat Belgium to keep their own dream of history alive.
Egypt are almost there. New Zealand are hanging on. And Salah, once again, is right at the heart of a World Cup story that refuses to let him go.
