Key events
90 min +4: The resulting corner sees Salah take a speculative shot from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. That’s easy for Beach this time, but Salah has done more in the last 60 seconds than he has in the entire match. And he very nearly won the game for Egypt!
90 min +3: Toure’s careless backpass flies out for an Egypt corner. The set piece is worked back to Salah on the right. Salah delivers a peach of a cross, Rabia steering a header towards the top left from close range. But Beach makes an exceptional reaction save to tip over the bar!
90 min +1: … and then the corner, worked long to Hassan on the right. Hassan sends the ball back to the far stick. Abdelmaguid tries a bicycle kick. He swishes thin air. To borrow some Scots vernacular: Abdelmaguid no guid.
90 min: Ashour chips down the left in an attempt to release Trezeguet. The ambition is enough to earn a corner. Before it’s taken, the announcement of five additional minutes is made. Whoops of anticipation.
88 min: Trewin works down the right and wins a corner. It’s swung in to the near post. Irvine flicks it on, but Souttar, instead of diverting it goalwards, six yards out, heads the ball straight down to the floor. Egypt clear.
86 min: Hassan causes quite a bit of bother down the right. First he sends Hany into space, only for the cross to be half-cleared; then he swings a cross in himself, and Beach is required to steam off his line and punch powerfully clear from the middle of a meleé.
84 min: Egypt get some much-needed time on the ball. Australia kind of let them have it. The match falls flat.
82 min: O’Neill sends another free kick in from the left. That leads to some extremely scrappy bedlam in the Egypt box. Finally Souttar clatters into Rabia, in the process of sending a header miles over the bar. Egypt aren’t happy, and Ashour has his say … while momentarily covering his mouth. He’ll want to watch that sort of carry-on. The referee politely ignores it.
80 min: Hafez’s race is indeed run, and he’s replaced by Trezeguet. That’s an attacking substitution. Egypt certainly need something, because they’ve done nothing up front in this second half, and Australia are slowly getting on top.
79 min: Hafez might have pulled something in stretching for that block. Down he goes, and Rabia performs the international hand-jive mime for substitution. And next the mashed potato, the Watusi …
77 min: Hrustic cuts in from the right only for his low curler to be blocked by Hafez. This game is getting a wee bit attritional.
76 min: Toure very nearly spins Ibrahim down the left. Then Behich tries to get the better of Hany, but there’s no way past. Australia doing their best to change the vibes momentum again.
74 min: Australia make a double change of their own, replacing Irankunda and Volpato with Hrustic and Toure.
73 min: Egypt have been a bit more front-foot since the hydration break. Albeit to little effect so far.
71 min: The game restarts. “Moving the England game is match fixing at its best,” argues Richard. “From a civilised midday in New Zealand to an inconvenient 6.00 am. Completely changes the meaning of hydration break.”
68 min: … and that’s drinks. And snacks! It’s either a meat pie and ketchup, or koshari (a blend of rice, lentils, macaroni, beans and onions). But who’s offering what? No lazy national stereotyping, this is the Guardian after all.
67 min: Abdelmaguid and Hassan come on for Zico and Fathy.
66 min: Hany looks livelier as he battles his way down the right, trying to win a corner but eventually failing to even get a throw. Egypt haven’t done much since the Marmoush miss.
64 min: Replays of the equaliser show Hany almost planting a header into the top right, never mind the ball skimming off the top of his head. “Are we absolutely certain Hany didn’t think he was scoring at the other end?” wonders James Humphries. “Feels like Egypt have got karma’d there. My dim recollection of what passed for CTE protocols when I played schools rugby is that you don’t need to get knocked out to be concussed, but if you’ve been knocked out you have definitely been concussed. Surely Hany should have been off after that?”
62 min: Salah is caught offside while scuttling after a pass down the right. Difficult to know whether that hamstring is holding up well or not; he’s not done very much.
60 min: The ball’s sent into the mixer, and it bobbles around for a while, but nothing drops for Australia. All very scrappy. “So, we need mandatory hydration breaks for player safety, but a player gets knocked out cold and is back on the pitch within moments?” wonders Jonathan Francis. “I’d ask what Fifa are thinking, but we all know the answer.”
59 min: Irankunda prepares to tear off down the left only to be clipped by Ibrahim, who are taking no prisoners today. Another chance to send a free kick into the box and test this patched-together Egypt defence.
57 min: Much will be made of whether Hany should still be on the pitch or not. He wanders away looking confused again, albeit on this occasion in the time-honoured fashion of a man who’s just scored his second own goal of the tournament.
GOAL! Australia 1-1 Egypt (Hany 55 og)
O’Neill swings the free kick into the box, Souttar rises highest, six yards out … but is beaten to the ball by Hany, the ball skimming off his head and into the top right! Shobeir unable to react!
54 min: O’Neill drops a shoulder to get past Zico on the Australian left. He goes over. There’s not much contact, but the ref’s bought it, and O’Neill will send the free kick into the mixer himself.
52 min: Amazingly – or inexplicably, depending on your viewpoint – Hany is given the go-ahead to continue. That’s quite the turnaround.
51 min: Elsewhere … but we can still keep the session going until 5am, yes Keir?
49 min: … but amazingly, within a minute, Hany is back up on his feet! And he wants to continue. But he went out like a light momentarily, and surely won’t be allowed to go on? A discussion on the sideline as the game restarts.
48 min: In going for that header, Metcalfe’s shoulder accidentally caught Hany, coming in behind. Hany falls, spark out cold, and on come the physios.
47 min: … then up the other end, there’s some head tennis in the Egypt box, and Metcalfe clanks a header wide left! Somewhere in a parallel universe, it’s 2-1. But here we are.
46 min: That would have been quite the miserable introduction for Trewin, who has been sent on for the stricken Bos.
Egypt get the second half started … and within nine seconds, Marmoush gets in ahead of Trewin down the middle, and should score! But he whips a low shot inches wide of the right-hand post! A big miss and a huge let-off for Australia!
We’ve just seen some footage of poor Bos, who was caught heavily by Rabia right at the end of the first half, being helped down the tunnel. His left leg is dangling in the air, he can’t put any weight on it, and he’s not holding it at a natural angle. I’d be very surprised if he continues. Rabia certainly crunched him, but he got the ball milliseconds before the man, and that’s exactly when Bos’s boot landed on terra firma. On the BBC, Scott Brown, who knows a thing or two about going in hard but fair, argues that it was a good tackle. Australia fans will understandably demur.
Half-time postbag. “That first half performance was nowhere near good enough and doesn’t suit my pre-tournament prediction/expectation of the Socceroos winning the World Cup and validating all of my life choices. Popovic has to make changes for the good of the nation and my personal narrative: Toure on for Irvine, Hrustic on to sort set-pieces, Mabil on for … ah, forget about it, I’m just going to fire up Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on the Playstation 2” – Chris Paraskevas
“While much was made of Africa placing nine out of ten teams into the knockout stage, even an unlikely sweep of today’s three matches would see more than half crash out. As it is, Egypt is the bookmaker’s best chance of the day to avoid the worst-case scenario of finishing 1-8. While there were some admirable efforts by DR Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, it does appear depth is their Achilles heel upon moving up to the next level” – Pete Mumola
“If Egypt thinks they’ve already won the game they’re in de-Nile” – Steve Tonks
“Knocking out Egypt might not be as easy as everybody Sphinx” – Peter Oh
“Presumably once the sea levels rise again, the pyramids will be the Pharaoh Isles” – James Humphries (and yes we have upgraded our Pun Platter to Taste the Finest)
“TV just showed the Momentum graphic. I was always taught in science classes that we had to indicate our units on any graph. What is the unit or measure of football momentum?” – William Walters
Vibes?
HALF TIME: Australia 0-1 Egypt
There’s no time to restart after the argument, and everyone goes down the tunnel for their half-time oranges … apart from Bos, who might have planted his studs in the turf and twisted his knee. He’s still getting treatment on the pitch. More on that when it becomes clearer.
45 min +5: Bos goes down, having been tackled by Rabia then caught on the follow through. No foul, though. He’s not happy, Irvine isn’t happy either. A lot of discussion.
45 min +3: Irankunda competes for a cross swung into the Egypt box from the left. He’s gently nudged from behind by Hafez. Some half-hearted shouts for a penalty, but come on.
45 min +2: Volpato curls wide left from long distance. Shobeir has it covered.
45 min +1: The first of five additional first-half minutes. Marmoush drops deep and wedges a pass down the inside-left channel. Salah, breaking into the box but facing the wrong way, tries to swivel and cushion a header into the path of Zico, but can’t quite manage it. A decent effort, though.
45 min: Marmoush tries to send Salah scampering into big space down the middle. In days gone by, Salah would have got to the ball and zipped away … but they’re long gone now. Australia clear.
43 min: Irakunda falls into the back of Ibrahim and manages to catch him on the ankle and back-heel him up the seat of his pants at the same time. That move has an Olympic difficulty tariff of 5.8.
41 min: Just as he did for the goal, Salah declines to send the free kick in direct, but changes the angle, pulling back for Zico, who curls into the Australia box. O’Neill heads clear.
40 min: Bos hangs out an arm and slaps Ashour in the mouth. All of that sounds more aggressive than it was – it seemed accidental – but it was a bit careless and so the referee awards a free kick, which Salah prepares send in from the right.
38 min: Bos runs hard down the right and wins a corner. It’s hit long by Volpato, but Circati can’t get a header away at the far stick.
37 min: Circati goes long down the right. Irankunda tries to spin Ibrahim, who heads back to his keeper … but only just. Irankunda nearly nipping in. He’d have been clear in the box had he executed better.
35 min: Circati sends another long throw in from the right. Irankunda lays the ball back to Behich, who has a whack from the left-hand edge of the D. Another easy one for Shobeir.
34 min: … and to tie up all the loose ends from that little episode, Hany trots back on and rejoins the action.
33 min: The free kick’s sent into the mixer and Bos swishes a weak effort straight at Shobeir, who claims. Then the whistle goes for a free kick anyway …
32 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Hany needs some attention, having been accidentally caught by Irankunda when the Australian was in the process of being fouled! A bit of a farce on one level, but a sore one for Hany, who has to go off for treatment.
31 min: Irankunda tries to play the ball around Ibrahim and into space down the inside-left channel. He’s caught by Ibrahim, and that could be a yellow card … but isn’t … though it is a free kick.