Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Belgian veterans Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Thibaut Courtois enter Group G of the 2026 World Cup knowing that this summer's tournament will likely be their last opportunity to achieve glory on the world's biggest football stage.

The draw placed their teams in Group G, alongside New Zealand.

The emergence of Belgium's golden generation on the international stage in the 1990s, which included Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Courtois, heralded a new dawn for the country in its quest to win its first major title.

Despite Belgium's rise to the top of the FIFA world rankings, the best achievement of that glittering constellation of stars was third place at the 2018 World Cup.

Of that generation, only Napoli's Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, aged 34 and 33 respectively, remain, along with Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (34), who returned to the national team last year after a falling out with former Italian-German coach Domenico Tedesco, which resulted in his absence from Belgium's Round of 16 exit at Euro 2024.

Last chance

The upcoming World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico could be their last chance to turn all the hopes and expectations into long-awaited medals.

The current Belgian generation is not lacking in talent, as names like Amadou Onana, Charles De Kettlear, Jérémy Doku, and Youri Tielemans possess more than enough qualities to form a formidable support system for the team's stars.

Physical problems

As for Salah, Egypt's second-highest scorer after his current coach Hossam Hassan, who will turn 34 during the World Cup, he will undoubtedly enter the tournament with high hopes.

Despite being widely considered the best footballer the North African nation has ever produced, the Liverpool legend has yet to achieve success with the Egyptian national team.

In his only previous World Cup appearance in 2018, he was hampered by a shoulder injury sustained in that year's Champions League final. He enters this edition struggling with physical issues after suffering a hamstring tear in late April, which hastened the end of his Anfield career.

Meanwhile, New Zealand will be participating in the World Cup finals for the third time this summer thanks to a 3-0 victory over New Caledonia in the Oceania Football Confederation's qualifying final.