An Egyptian secret before the penalty shootout.. Mbappe reveals the weaknesses of the “Australia surprise” | sports

Moments before the start of the penalty shootout between Egypt and Australia in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, television broadcast lenses captured a striking scene of the Egyptian national team’s technical staff watching, via a tablet, a penalty kick taken by French star Kylian Mbappe against Australian goalkeeper Matthew Ryan, via Egyptian national team performance analyst Mahmoud Selim.

It was not just a passing observation, but rather part of a careful plan to study Ryan’s movements before the decision, a step that bore fruit later after the Pharaohs succeeded in scoring all their kicks and booking their ticket to the quarter-finals.

Before the start of the penalty shootout in the Round of 16 match, the Egyptian national team players gathered around Selim to watch a penalty kick scored by Mbappé wearing a Real Madrid shirt against Australian goalkeeper Matthew Ryan, during a match against Levante in the Spanish League, with the aim of studying the way the goalkeeper moves and his directions when saving penalty kicks.

This step came after Australian coach Tony Popovic decided to replace his main goalkeeper, Patrick Beach, with Matthew Ryan just before the end of extra time, in an attempt to repeat the scenario of the famous Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul, by introducing a more experienced goalkeeper to save penalties.

But the Australian bet did not succeed, as Ryan was unable to block any of the Egyptian kicks, after Mahmoud Saber, Ramy Rabia, Mohamed Salah and Hossam Abdel Majeed successfully scored their attempts, so the Pharaohs clinched qualification 4-2 on penalties after the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

On the other hand, the Australian team began the series of failures when its captain, Harry Soutar, missed the first kick after he hit the ball over the crossbar, before Lucas Herrington’s kick was missed in the same way, leaving the “Socceroos” out of the tournament in the knockout round for the third time in a row.

Despite the great suffering that the Egyptian team faced during the match, the Pharaohs settled the confrontation thanks to their calm and confidence in the penalty shootout, in a shot that caught attention after it appeared that psychological and technical preparation preceded the implementation, and that Mbappe’s video was one of the secrets of the victory.