'We set up well': Belgium's Mechele upbeat after 'shutting down' Salah and Marmoush

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]Belgium[/a] went down one after leaving Eman Ashour wide open in the 20th minute and trailed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] until midway through the second half.[/p][p]Belgian defender [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mechele-brandon/6k4GFuni/"]Brandon Mechele[/a] told reporters in Seattle that Belgium were asking for problems by the way they showed up in the first half, but that it wasn't disheartening for the World Cup hopefuls.[/p][p][b]"I wouldn't say we're disillusioned. We went too easy on them in the duels in the first half; we lost too much of those," [/b]Mechele said.[/p][p][b]"We were sloppy on the ball, which meant we couldn't dictate the pace. There was more fire in the team in the second; we were more aggressive and played at a higher tempo."[/b][/p][image alt="Brandon Mechele's stats vs Egypt" id="91439c9c-6eb2-4760-bd13-d1dd7880113e" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform (Photo by DIRK WAEM / BELGA MAG / BELGA VIA AFP)" guid="66a52be0-484d-4756-b037-f4d14d66bf6c" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]The fact that it was the tournament opener didn't help the team, Mechele claimed: [b]"You never know what happens in the first game. Perhaps it was a bit of nervousness, I don't know. We made it right, though it's a shame we didn't get the three points. I think we deserved the three points based on our second-half performance."[/b][/p][h2]Shutting down Salah and Marmoush[/h2][p]Mechele, who plays for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/club-brugge/rgTHIK74/"]Club Brugge[/a] in the Belgian Pro League, played just his tenth game for the Red Devils, but was close to scoring his first goal in red with two late chances, including a header that forced an excellent save from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/oufa-shobeir/0vgRIJk9/"]Mostafa Shobeir[/a]. It wasn't to be for the 33-year-old.[/p][p][b]"We still have more games to go, and I keep getting closer to that goal, so it'll come. I headed it too softly, I think. If only I got to put more power behind it, but it was a hard ball to head well. We did our best, we created a lot of big chances in the second half, but unfortunately, we didn't score that second goal."[/b][/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="546267bd-2d7c-4516-879b-27c0f217dfa4" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform" guid="eff713e3-5f67-40e5-97af-e833bef7bbfd" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p]Mechele formed a centre-back pairing with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lille/pfDZL71o/"]Lille[/a] defender [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ngoy-nathan/x6Zak7to/"]Nathan Ngoy[/a], with whom Mechele paired up for just the fourth time in their young Belgium careers. Despite the novelty of the partnership, Mechele was happy with Ngoy, with whom he kept Egypt stars [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marmoush-omar/44pYRYIC/"]Omar Marmoush[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salah-mohamed/08FBycgB/"]Mohamed Salah[/a] to a total of one shot on target.[/p][p][b]"It was really good working with Nathan (Ngoy) and to work with him against Salah and Marmoush; they were little to not involved in Egypt's game. We were set up well, especially in the second half; the whole team was set up well defensively."[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/belgium-GbB957na/egypt-bejDn7NN/?mid=dG7zgzd5"]Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]