世界杯淘汰赛：一比一战平，埃及点球大战淘汰澳大利亚

Today let's talk about a World Cup knockout game so cruel it was hard to watch: Australia and Egypt fought to a one-to-one draw over a hundred and twenty minutes, and in the end Egypt laughed last in the penalty shootout to scrape through.

This was a game about perseverance, and about regret.

First, a word on the two teams.

Egypt have the superstar Salah, one of the game's very best today, his quality and fame plain for all to see.

Australia, meanwhile, are a classic tough nut: they may not have many big names, but they always play with great tenacity and never say die.

Alright, into the game.

Not long after kickoff, Egypt took the lead from an attacking free kick.

Ashour rose high to beat Australia's keeper with a precise header — zero to one.

A trailing Australia didn't panic; they patiently looked for their chance.

Finally, the turning point came: in a scramble, one of Egypt's defenders accidentally knocked the ball into his own net — an own goal that helped Australia level it at one to one.

Through the rest of regulation and extra time, both sides gave everything, yet neither could score again.

After a hundred and twenty minutes, the score was still one to one, and the game went to the cruelest of things, a penalty shootout.

A shootout tests not only technique, but even more the mind.

Sadly, this time, fate wasn't on Australia's side.

Two of their players missed their penalties, while Egypt held their nerve and converted one after another.

In the end, Egypt won the shootout and shut Australia out of the last 16.

More rueful still, this was the first penalty shootout in Australia's World Cup history, and in this way they tasted the bitterness of defeat.

So, how should this game be judged?

For Egypt, this is a nervy and precious win.

They withstood enormous mental pressure and, with greater quality and a steadier mindset, laughed last.

For Australia, this defeat is truly cruel.

They played tenaciously enough, pulling themselves back from the brink time and again, only to fall in the shootout, the ultimate test of luck and nerve.

Penalties have always been cruel: the winner rises to heaven, the loser goes home in sorrow.

But Australia's never-give-up spirit equally deserves everyone's applause.

That's Egypt knocking out Australia on penalties, a game belonging to perseverance, and to regret.

See you next match.