LATEST: Australia vs Egypt LIVE: 2026 World Cup round of 32 updates
Australia face Egypt in a huge Round of 32 clash in Arlington on Friday, as both teams look to book their tickets to a potential Round of 16 clash against Argentina.
Australia began their tournament in smashing fashion, with a 2-0 win against Turkiye, but were then blown away by the USA in a stunning first half of a game that they eventually lost 2-0. In their last group game, Australia drew 0-0 with Paraguay in a result that suited both teams down to the T, in their pursuit to make it to the knockout stages.
Egypt only finished second in Group G, behind Belgium, on goal difference. They began their tournament with an impressive performance in a 1-1 draw against Belgium, and followed that up with their first-ever win at a World Cup, beating New Zealand 3-1. After that, they drew 1-1 in a dramatic game against Iran, where they opened the scoring early, but were pegged back soon after, and by the end, were holding on to the draw by the skin of their teeth.
Egypt are sweating on the fitness of their star man Mohamed Salah, whose participation (or not) in this game is sure to have a big impact on who progresses to the Round of 16.
Here's everything you need to know about Friday's game.
How to watch:
The match will be available on BBC One in the UK, Fox Sports in the U.S., Zee5 in India and SBS in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: 2 p.m. Friday July 3
UK BST: 7 p.m. Friday July 3
India IST: 11:30 p.m. Friday July 3
Australia AEST: 4 a.m. Saturday, July 4
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, USA
Referee:
Team News
Australia XI: Beach, Circati, Souttar, Herrington; Behich, O'Neill, Irvine, Bos; Metcalfe, Irankunda, Volpato.
Subs: Ryan, Izzo, Degenek, Geria, Trewin, Burgess, Devlin, Okon-Engstler, Toure, Hrustic, Mabil, Velupillay, Yengi.
Egypt XI: Shoubir; Ibrahim, Hany, Rabia, Hafez; Ashour, Zico, Fathy, Attia; Salah, Marmoush.
Subs: Elshenawy, Soliman, Alaa, Abdelmaguid. Alaa, Donga, Saber, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Hassan, Adel, Zizo.
Talking Points
All eyes on Salah amid Egypt injury crisis
Mohamed Salah went off just 12 minutes into the second half of Egypt's draw against Iran, with an injury that has since been confirmed as a hamstring strain. Salah has played some part in Egypt's training this week, but has missed others. The Egyptian federation said their captain has begun treatment, and will hope to get him to start after an intensive recovery programme.
It's important for Egypt that Salah does play, to minimise the upheaval in the team. They're already going to be without left-back Ahmed Abou El Fattouh, who has a hamstring tear, which he suffered in the England game. Centre-back Mohamed Abdulmonem is a doubt for this game too, as he has suffered severe ankle bruising, even though the federation have said that he is being readied for this game.
Salah has been the glue for that Egyptian attack all tournament, playing in a more central role, behind striker Omar Marmoush in the first two games, and behind Mostafa Zico in the third game against Iran.
If Salah isn't fit, much of the attention and pressure will shift onto Marmoush's shoulders, as the next highest-profile player in the squad. The Manchester City man hasn't done his best work yet at the tournament, so Egypt will not want any more additional pressure on him.
How much will Australia change?
Tony Popovic has been clear though the tournament that he doesn't have a fixed starting XI. Australia have constantly rotated their squad. They made six changes for their second game against the USA, after beating Turkiye 2-0 in their opening game. In fact, Popovic dropped the two goalscorers from the opening game -- Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe -- on to the bench for that game against the USA.
Irankunda and Metcalfe returned to the side for their final group game against Paraguay, and there were also first starts in the tournament for Jackson Irvine and Lucas Herrington. Popovic said that those changes were all made to suit the game Australia were going to play on that given day. Since the formation and the system never changed, it wasn't really disruptive either, as the Australian head coach put his faith behind his entire squad.
With defender Jacob Italiano's tournament over after an injury, that is one less option for Popovic. But against an Egyptian side that has been more expansive than usual at this tournament, it will be instructive to see what Popovic considers as his best set of eleven players to start this game.
