Why Egypt watched Kylian Mbappe penalty before 2026 World Cup shoot-out as Australia's gambles backfire

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Egypt overcame Australia in a penalty shoot-out to reach the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup. Before the shoot-out, Egypt's players watched footage of a penalty taken by France and Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe, while Australia head coach Tony Popovic made a goalkeeping change that did not work.

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The last-32 tie was the third at the World Cup to go to penalties following a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes in Dallas.

With seconds left before the shoot-out, Australia boss Popovic made the surprise decision to change goalkeepers for Egypt's penalties.

Melbourne City’s Patrick Beach, who had made a superb save late in second-half added time to help send the game to extra time, was replaced by the more experienced Mat Ryan.

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The move didn’t pay off for the Socceroos as Ryan did not save any penalties and Egypt prevailed to reach the last 16.

"That was always an option for us, with his experience," said Popovic about the call. "Then you’ve got to see how the game plays out. Sometimes in extra time, players go down, and you need to make the changes, and you don’t have a sub available.

"But we had one available with a couple of minutes to go, and we put Ryan on."

It is only the second time in World Cup history that a goalkeeper has been introduced just for the penalty shoot-out.

The previous occasion was in 2014 when Tim Krul replaced Jasper Cillessen for the Netherlands' quarter-final shoot-out against Costa Rica. The move paid off on that occasion, as Krul saved two penalties and the Dutch triumphed.

Not only did Popovic opt to change goalkeepers, he also raised eyebrows with his choice of penalty takers.

Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington, both centre-backs, took penalties and failed to convert. Souttar sent the first penalty over, and 18-year-old Herrington struck the crossbar.

Popvic said afterwards that he hadn’t thought about what he would say to Souttar and Herrington after their misses.

”It’s not a moment to think about that now,” said Popovic.

”That will come I’m sure. I’m extremely proud of them.

”I haven’t even thought about the players that missed the penalties. Unfortunately we go home and the World Cup ends for us.”

Why Egypt watched Mbappe penalty before shoot-out

Egypt's win was their first knockout victory at a World Cup.

They will next play either Lionel Messi's Argentina or minnows Cabo Verde in the last 16 of the tournament.

Before the shoot-out, Egypt players could be seen gathering around a tablet to watch footage of Mbappe taking a penalty last season.

Why?

The penalty that Mbappe was seen scoring in the clip was against Levante earlier this year.

And the goalkeeper for Levante was Ryan, who moved from side to side sharply before the penalty was taken, but ended up guessing the wrong way.

It seems that Egypt watched the clip to gain some insight on how Ryan might react against penalties.

Salah scored with a Panenka penalty in the shoot-out and afterwards explained why he had opted for the bold choice.

Mohamed Salah celebrates Egypt's win over Australia

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"If somebody was going to do it, it would be me," he said.

"I am more experienced than others, and I wanted to give them confidence. I decided [in the] last minute, I don’t know if it’s my last World Cup or not, but I had to do it."

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