New Zealand 1-3 Egypt: FIFA World Cup Match Report

New Zealand led at half-time here, which is more than they managed at any other point in the tournament. New Zealand 1-3 Egypt ended as a three-goal defeat, but at the interval the scoreboard read 1-0 to the hosts and every part of the pre-match case for them was intact.

Egypt scored three times after the break to turn it around. That return is remarkable in the context of their group: they scored five goals across three matches and three of them came in these forty-five minutes. Either side of this match they drew 1-1 with Belgium and 1-1 with Iran — two goals in two games, then three in one half.

For New Zealand the pattern is the one that defined their World Cup. They scored in all three group matches, four goals in total, which was more than Iran managed, and they conceded ten. A 2-2 draw with Iran, this 3-1 defeat and then 5-1 against Belgium in the final round. Getting into a match was not their problem; staying in one was. The reversal here also cost them the only realistic chance they had of a second point, since Egypt and Iran drew their remaining fixture and New Zealand's opening draw remained their entire return from the tournament.

It put Egypt on four points from two matches and effectively into the knockout rounds. They finished on five after the draw with Iran, level with Belgium and behind them only on goal difference. Without the three goals scored here their difference would have been negative rather than plus two, and second place would have looked very different.

For New Zealand it was elimination in all but arithmetic. One point from two matches with a goal difference of minus two left them needing to beat Belgium in the last round, and they lost that 5-1. They finished bottom of Group G on a single point, with four scored and ten conceded.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (New Zealand or Draw) at 1.42. It was winning at half-time and lost by two goals.

We backed New Zealand's opening-day resilience — the 2-2 draw with Iran from which they had taken a point — and the assumption that Egypt, who had drawn their own opener 1-1, were not a side to fear. The lead at the break made that look sound. What followed did not. Egypt's second half here accounted for more than half of everything they scored in the group stage, and New Zealand's inability to protect a one-goal advantage is the thread running through all three of their matches. A double chance that leads at the interval and still loses is a hard one to defend. Verdict: lost