New Delhi, June 16 -- Seeking to avoid a repeat of its early World Cup exit in 2022, Belgium got off to an unimpressive start.

Romelu Lukaku entered in the 66th minute against Egypt on Monday and the veteran striker immediately created a scoring chance that led to an equalizing own goal, but that was all Belgium could manage in a 1-1 draw.

"No game's an easy game in the World Cup," coach Rudi Garcia said in French.

Perhaps not, but Belgium was expected to handle an Egypt squad that has never won a World Cup game. Instead, the Red Devils were outmaneuvered in the first half, with the speed of Egypt's younger players making the Pharaohs the aggressors.

"We know that we had a bad start in the match," captain Youri Tielemans said.

Now th...