Egypt defeated Australia in a penalty shootout to claim its first-ever World Cup knockout victory and advance to the round of 16. Australia's elimination means every Asian Football Confederation (AFC) nation in the tournament has now been knocked out.
Egypt and Australia finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and could not settle the match in extra time at their 2026 World Cup round-of-32 game held at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday. Egypt won the ensuing shootout 4-2.
The victory marked the first time in history that Egypt has won a match in the World Cup finals knockout stage. The team was eliminated in its first game at the 1934 tournament and failed to advance beyond the group stage in both 1990 and 2018. Returning to the finals stage after eight years, Egypt finally wrote a new chapter with its round-of-16 berth.
Egypt will face the winner of the Argentina-Cape Verde match for a spot in the quarterfinals in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Australia, which had reached the round of 16 twice (2006 and 2022) in the World Cup finals, once again failed to clear the first knockout hurdle. With Australia's elimination, not a single team among the AFC's nine nations reached the round of 16 in this tournament, which expanded the number of finals participants to 48 countries. After seven countries including Korea were eliminated in the group stage, Japan and Australia also turned back, blocked by Brazil and Egypt respectively.
Egypt broke the deadlock first. Led by world-class strikers Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, Egypt opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Karim Hafez's cross following a free kick was met by Emam Ashour's header. The team showed clinical finishing, converting its single shot on target in the first half into a goal.
Australia earned a fortunate equalizer just 10 minutes into the second half. On an Aiden O'Neill free kick, Egyptian defender Mohamed Hany's attempted clearing header went straight into his own goal, recording an own goal. Hany suffered the misfortune of his second own goal of the tournament, following the group stage opener against Belgium.
Both teams then failed to add any further goals throughout regulation and extra time. Facing the shootout, Australia made a bold move in the 14th minute of extra time's second half, substituting starting goalkeeper Patrick Beach for veteran Mathew Ryan, but it did not change the result.
In the shootout, concentration decided the outcome. Australia's first kicker Harry Souttar sent his shot well wide of the goal, and then its fourth kicker, 18-year-old defender Lucas Herrington, saw his shot hit the post and bounce out. Egypt, meanwhile, converted all its attempts in turn through Mahmoud Saber, Ramy Rabia, Mohamed Salah and Hossam Abdelmaguid to complete the 4-2 victory.
