Egypt turned a halftime deficit into a convincing 3-1 victory over New Zealand on June 22 at BC Place in Vancouver, delivering one of the most dramatic comebacks of the 2026 World Cup so far. The Group G clash saw the Pharaohs trail for 43 minutes before exploding with three unanswered second-half goals.

How Egypt flipped the script in Vancouver

New Zealand struck first through Finn Surman in the 15th minute, silencing a heavily pro-Egypt crowd. The All Whites held that lead through halftime, and for 45 minutes it looked like a genuine upset was brewing against the higher-ranked Egyptians.

Mostafa Ziko pulled Egypt level in the 58th minute, breaking the New Zealand defensive structure that had held firm for most of the match. Nine minutes later, captain Mohamed Salah found the net to put Egypt ahead 2-1 in the 67th minute.

Mahmoud Trezeguet put an exclamation point on the comeback in the 82nd minute, sealing the 3-1 scoreline. Egypt’s coach Hossam Hassan had dismissed pre-match speculation about any rift between himself and Salah, and the captain’s performance on the pitch made the conversation look silly in hindsight.

Egypt now needs a win in their final Group G match against Iran to push for what would be their first-ever World Cup knockout stage appearance. The group also includes Uruguay, making it one of the more competitive pools in the tournament.

The crypto lens on the World Cup

This particular match carried no direct crypto sponsorship, token partnership, or blockchain integration in its coverage. During the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Crypto.com was a FIFA sponsor, and fan token trading volumes spiked around major matches.

Fan tokens for national teams have historically been more limited than club-level tokens. Most of the established fan token ecosystem revolves around European club football, think Barcelona, PSG, Juventus, rather than national federations. Egypt’s football association has not launched a widely traded fan token.

What this means for investors watching sports and crypto converge

Fan token prices have historically correlated more with on-pitch results than with any fundamental token utility, making them closer to sentiment instruments than investment vehicles.

With Uruguay and Iran still in the mix in Group G, nothing is settled. For decentralized prediction markets, that uncertainty is the product itself.