As much as you hate to see matches that are ultimately meaningless in the World Cup, they can bring some phenomenal moments. Egypt gave us one of those moments by starting 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary in between the pipes against Saudi Arabia. At 45 years and 161 days, El-Hadary is making his 153rd appearance for Egypt, and he's the oldest player to ever play in the World Cup.
السد العالي صاحب 45 عاما يشارك اليوم أساسيا مع #الفراعنة رقم قياسي جديد لك يا @ElHadary #KSAEGY #السعوديه_مصر pic.twitter.com/TaGwypbxaR
— Egypt National Football Team (@Pharaohs) June 25, 2018
With Egypt up 1-0 in the 40th minute, El-Hadary did this:
Age is nothing but a number!
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 25, 2018
El Hadary comes up big to deny Saudi Arabia the equalizer from the spot. pic.twitter.com/ui47lgZ3pH
Saudi Arabia, however, got another opportunity that El-Hadary wasn't able to save, and the Green Falcons put home their first goal of the Cup.
Saudi Arabia get their first goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup!
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 25, 2018
They're awarded their second penalty of the day and this time it's buried to make it 1-1 at halftime. pic.twitter.com/A4v3y9yD5y
This is the first time Egypt has qualified for the Cup since 1990, so it's especially thrilling for a player like El-Hadary, who made his professional debut in 1993 and first played for the national team in 1997 against Algeria. Colombia keeper Faryd Mondragon set the record for oldest player in 2014 in Brazil by playing at 43 years and three days, so El-Hadary beat the record by a significant amount.
Egypt suffered losses in its first two matches with Mohamed El-Shenawy in net. The first match was a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay, whereas the second was a 3-1 loss to Russia. Saudi Arabia, was also eliminated after the second match.
El-Hadary has six years on Mexico's Rafael Marquez, who is making his fifth appearance in the World Cup for Mexico -- the third player in the World Cup to ever do so -- at 39. The next-oldest keeper in the Cup is Argentina's Willy Caballero, 36, who is filling in for the injured Sergio Romero.