MEXICO CITY, JUL 4: For all the noise, all the tactical planning and all the emotional freight that teams carry into a knockout tie, football has a habit of reducing everything to the loneliest act in sport. Australia and Egypt arrived in Arlington chasing the same piece of history and, after Emam Ashour’s opener was cancelled out by an own goal, this last-32 tie surrendered itself to penalties.
There, it was Egypt that held its nerve, scoring with all four of its kicks as Harry Souttar and teenager Lucas Herrington missed from the spot.
Earlier, a year after leaving a stadium in the United States in tears, Ashour swaggered across the Arlington arena in triumph. When the Egyptian midfielder scored in the 13th minute to put the Pharaohs ahead, he celebrated with the “Billionaire Strut” – Vince McMahon’s chest-out, shoulders-swinging walk of exaggeration in WWE, now made more famous by UFC’s Conor McGregor.
Aussie teenager Lucas Herrington smacks the crossbar in the shootout.
Aussie teenager Lucas Herrington smacks the crossbar in the shootout. | Photo Credit: AP
Tony Popovic kept Australia unchanged from the Paraguay game, while Egypt made five changes, with Salah fit enough to start alongside Omar Marmoush despite hamstring concerns. Australia threatened first when Cristian Volpato’s long-range effort kissed the top of the bar in the fifth minute, but it was Egypt that struck. Ashour’s initial free kick from the left was blocked by the wall, but he was left unmarked when Karim Hafez floated the ball back into the box, allowing him to head past Patrick Beach.
A year earlier, on June 15, 2025, Ashour had been stretchered off in Miami after fracturing his collarbone while playing for Al Ahly against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the Club World Cup.
Egypt should have doubled its lead almost immediately after the restart. Salah split the Australian defence with a perfectly weighted pass, but Marmoush, who opened his body to guide the ball beyond Beach, saw his attempt bobble wide.
Soon enough, Egypt was made to pay for it as Mohamed Hany, perhaps unsettled by the looming presence of Souttar, turned the ball into his own net from an Australian corner.
Egypt’s Emam Ashour celebrates scoring his side’s first goal.
In cricket, Australia has long treated knockout games as its natural habitat. Its men and women have been imperious on the biggest days, turning ICC World Cups into something close to a national inheritance, even if the old white flannels have long given way to colour, commerce and sponsor-heavy shirts. The Socceroos tried to borrow from that same muscle memory here, pushing and straining for a first World Cup knockout triumph.
Beach kept the dream alive deep into stoppage time, keeping out a point-blank Rabia header. In extra-time, Souttar stood like a wall against Salah and Egypt, somehow coaxing Australia’s tired legs to keep the scoreline intact. The decisive goal never came, and Popovic sent on Mathew Ryan – a goalkeeper with 12 career penalty saves – in place of Beach for the shootout.
But football, unlike inheritance, offers no guarantees. And for a nation that has built a sporting reputation on thriving in knockout moments, there was no rescue here. Egypt walked away with the history both teams had come looking for.
