Belgium vs Egypt: World Cup preview, predictions and bet builder tips

• Fixture: Belgium vs Egypt

• Competition: World Cup - Group G

• Date: Monday, 15 June, 2026

• Kick-off: 8pm BST

• Venue: Seattle Stadium, Seattle, Washington, USA

Our prediction: Belgium 3-1 Egypt

Belgium

Our predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Courtois / Castagne, De Winter, Debast, De Cuyper / Tielemans, Onana / Doku, De Bruyne, Trossard / Lukaku

Egypt

Our predicted XI (4-3-3): El Shenawy / Fatouh, Abdelmonem, Hany, Rabia / Ashour, Fathy, Attia / Salah, Marmoush, Zizo

The first game in Group G at the 2026 World Cup could go a long way to deciding its winner, with Iran and New Zealand the other nations in the group. Belgium arrive as group favourites, with a squad headlined by Kevin de Bruyne and Jeremy Doku. The Red Devils also have a standout midfield pairing of Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana, as well as Leandro Trossard and Romelu Lukaku in forward areas, while Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is a candidate for the Golden Glove. There may be less pressure on this Belgian side after its 'Golden Generation' reached the semi-finals in 2018, but that could suit a squad still packed with quality.

The star man for Egypt is undoubtedly still Mohamed Salah, who called time on a glittering career at Liverpool at the end of the season. He now has support from Manchester City forward Omar Marmoush, with The Pharaohs still seeking a first World Cup win in their history. Egypt went unbeaten through their qualification campaign and gave Brazil a good game in a 2-1 defeat in a pre-tournament friendly.

Belgium are unbeaten in their last thirteen games, although they did actually lose 2-1 the last time they faced Egypt back in November 2022. However, we foresee no such problems for Belgium this time around, as they get their World Cup campaign underway with a 3-1 win.

We're tipping a Belgium win but Egypt will be no pushovers, having drawn with Spain back in March and only narrowly losing 2-1 to Brazil in their warm-up friendly last week. The Pharaohs have plenty of attacking firepower in the form of Mo Salah and Omar Marmoush, while Belgium's weakness may lie in defence, so we're picking both teams to score as part of our Belgium vs Egypt bet builder.

Jeremy Doku finished the season in fine form for Manchester City even if they ultimately failed to win the title, and the Belgium winger will be looking to continue that momentum for his national side. He played a key role in their qualification campaign, scoring five goals and providing three assists in eight games, with no Belgium player having more goal involvements. We're backing Doku to continue his good form by having at least one shot on target against Egypt.

It's likely to be the last World Cup for a number of this generation's stars, with this game featuring a couple in Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah. The Egyptian King might not have had his most prolific season at Anfield, but he's never failed to deliver for his country, and scored Egypt's only goal the last time they made an appearance at the World Cup in 2018. We're tipping Salah to test Courtois at least once in Seattle.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.