Hossam Hassan: We were close to victory, they denied us a penalty

Egypt's head coach, Hossam Hassan, expressed his dissatisfaction after his team's 1-1 draw against Belgium in their opening Group G World Cup match. He lamented his team's missed opportunity for victory and even criticized the officiating, claiming his side was denied a clear penalty.

"This is my World Cup debut. I'm pleased with my players' performance. The team is constantly developing through a lot of hard work, which is exactly what I want. For two years, I've been trying to instill in the players the need for continuous tactical and overall development. I insisted on playing against top teams in friendlies. Today, Belgium is among the top five, six, or seven teams in the world, boasting some of the best players, yet we were the ones who opened the scoring – they had to equalize. I believe we were very close to winning," Hassan began.

"Personally, I think there was a penalty against us. I'm surprised VAR wasn't used, and no referee reviewed the situation in Belgium's penalty area. Play should have been stopped, and that incident should have been examined," the specialist added.

"But overall, I'm satisfied with my players' performance and the conditions we're working under. Even before the match, I said that the Egyptian national team is not a small team at all; even when we lose, we have our own identity, and we will continue to work. The development I've been striving for over the past two years is evident, and we are now playing proper football," the Egyptian concluded.