Egypt coach expects opener against Belgium to be difficult, says Salah 'ready'

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] lost 2-1 to five-times champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brazil/I9l9aqLq/"]‌Brazil[/a] in Cleveland on Sunday, in ‌[a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/brazil-I9l9aqLq/egypt-bejDn7NN/?mid=r3s2pV84"]their final warm-up friendly[/a] ahead of their ‌fourth appearance in the World Cup.[/p][p]Newcastle midfielder ‌Bruno Guimaraes scored the opening goal early from inside the box and Lyon forward Endrick added ‌in the second half after ⁠an assist from ‌Barcelona's Raphinha.[/p][p]Zico scored for Egypt, while Skipper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salah-mohamed/08FBycgB/"]​Mohamed Salah[/a] played the second half and seemed to be in good form.[/p][p][b]"Salah ​underwent a rehabilitation program with Liverpool and then with the national team, and he is ⁠now ready ​for matches,"[/b] Hassan told reporters.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="7410b828-05f3-47b8-ba70-e8b4d4eef92e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="1a0a3875-7a62-45fb-9a04-51f40e1f65f9" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /][p]Seven-times African champions open their Group G campaign [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/belgium-GbB957na/egypt-bejDn7NN/?mid=dG7zgzd5"]against Belgium on June 15th[/a], before facing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/rLctHkpU/"]New Zealand[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]‌Iran[/a].[/p][p][b]"The opening match against Belgium at the World Cup will be extremely difficult, and the group is strong and highly competitive,"[/b] Hassan, who competed in the World Cup as a player in 1990, said.[/p][p]Hassan expressed his disappointment after losing to Brazil, but stressed that he was satisfied with the ‌players’ performance despite the loss.[/p][embed guid="594fba2d-291e-49ce-b798-22ee51d36e78" url="https://x.com/CBF_Futebol/status/2063412667889447222" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"I do ​not like losing, and I am saddened ‌by the defeat to Brazil, even though they are one of the biggest teams in the world,"[/b] he said. "We faced a strong and outstanding team in the ⁠final match ⁠before the World ‌Cup.”[/p]