The start of the game was not easy for Egypt. New Zealand thoroughly blocked Egypt's attack route based on its solid defensive organization, and succeeded in taking the lead with Finn Thurman's header from a corner kick situation in the 15th minute of the first half. Egypt tried to find clues for a counterattack with Salah at the center, but they were blocked by New Zealand's solid defensive block and concentrated checks and looked helpless throughout the first half. To make matters worse, Egypt's challenge to win the World Cup for the first time seemed to be thwarted once again due to the bad news that Hamdi Fati, a key resource of the team, was replaced due to injury. Until the first half ended 0-1, the spectators in the stadium expected Egypt to continue its brutal streak in the finals once again.

But in the second half, Egypt turned into a completely different team. After making a tactical change after halftime, Egypt regained their rhythm focusing on short, quick passes and began to dominate New Zealand's midfield. In the 13th minute of the second half, Mohamed Hani's exquisite cross was headed by Mostafa Zico to finally equalize, and the atmosphere in the stadium instantly heated up. This equalizer was a catalyst for confidence in the Egyptian players, and the game was completely in Egypt's favor after that. New Zealand's defense began to panic, and Egypt did not miss the opportunity and pushed their opponent even harder, opening the beginning of a major comeback.

As expected, it was ‘King of Egypt’ Mohammed Salah who decided the direction of the game. In the 22nd minute of the second half, Salah combined his personal ability to get between three opposing defenders and a fantastic one-two pass with Zico to score the winning goal. This was Salah's third goal in his World Cup career and will be recorded as the most valuable goal in Egyptian soccer history. Then, in the 37th minute of the second half, Mahmoud Trezeguet converted Salah's sharp free kick into a diving header and scored the key goal, ending the victory. Salah demonstrated why he is one of the best strikers in the world with an overwhelming performance of 1 goal and 1 assist, and also perfectly demonstrated his leadership in keeping the team focused.

In addition to Egypt's victory, this game served as an opportunity to immediately clear away many of the noises and doubts surrounding the team. Before and after the game, there were rumors of discord regarding the manager's method of selecting players, but the manager's mercenary skills, which trusted Salah until the end, and the cohesion of the players who responded to this, put all doubts to rest. In addition, while the other teams in Group G, Iran and Belgium, were in chaos after recording a draw in their first match, Egypt rose to first place in the group with 3 points, making it very likely that they will advance to the round of 16 in the future. New Zealand tried to counterattack with long-ball tactics led by Chris Wood, but were blocked by Egypt's hand-to-hand defense and suffered a contrasting result, being pushed to the bottom of the group.