Spain entered the final match of the group stage already qualified, waiting to know if they would finish first or second. A draw on Tuesday against Egypt would have been enough for them to secure the top spot. Santi Denia rotated ten of the eleven starters from the previous match, prioritizing recovery for the quarterfinals, a plan that did not work as expected and resulted in a 1-2 defeat.

In a match marked by the heat—33 degrees—and the humidity—between 60 and 75% during the match hours—and the absence of hydration breaks, Egypt came out more dynamic on the field.

And with more urgency too, as Spain was already qualified and only needed to know if they would be first or second in Group C, while Egypt needed at least a point to reach the quarterfinals. In the end, they got three points and the top spot.

Additionally, Spanish coach Santi Denia rotated all his players except one—Aimar Oroz—while Egypt repeated the lineup that beat Uzbekistan (1-0) three days earlier.

Spain had fresher legs but less match rhythm since those players hadn’t started an official match since late May.

In this context, Egypt looked more electric in attack, with Adel Ibrahim, who would later score the first goal, threatening in the 6th and 15th minutes with shots from inside the box blocked by Beñat Turrientes and Cristhian Mosquera, respectively.

The Egyptian ‘10’ needed to step out of the area to find his space. And he did so in the 40th minute. A long ball from central defender Omar Fayed to Zizo, who won the aerial duel against Miguel Gutiérrez, who ended up on the ground asking for a foul. Poor defensive balance from Spain… and goal.

A shot from the edge of the box by Adel Ibrahim, hitting the crossbar, which Alejandro Iturbe touched with his left hand but couldn’t clear.

This was Spain's third consecutive match conceding a goal, but the first in which they were behind on the scoreboard.

After a first half with Spain one goal down and Marc Pubill’s shot in the 18th minute hitting the post as their best chance, Santi Denia stuck to his plan of preserving players' fitness for the quarterfinals.

After the break, the only player repeating in the starting lineup, Aimar Oroz, was substituted by Sergio Gómez. Also, Marc Pubill, who missed the second match against the Dominican Republic due to overload, was replaced by Juanlu Sánchez.

Spain tried to react but shot themselves in the foot. After a double chance by Samu Omorodion, blocked by goalkeeper Alaa Hamza, and a shot by Sergio Gómez, cleared off the line by central defender Hossam Abdelmaguid, Spain was pushing forward when Jon Pacheco’s mistake came in the 62nd minute.

The central defender made a poor back pass, neither well-directed nor powerful, and Ibrahim Adel found himself one-on-one with Alejandro Iturbe, scoring a crucial double for the local Egyptian league player, who now has six caps for the national team.

He even had a chance for a hat-trick, but his shot in the 74th minute after another misplaced pass, this time by Diego López, was saved by Iturbe, who also stopped Zizo’s follow-up shot, maintaining the 0-2 scoreline that Spain could not equalize to reclaim the top spot.

Even though they reduced the deficit with a header from Samu Omorodion in the 90th minute, putting Spain one goal away from the top spot with ten minutes of added time remaining, they didn’t create clear scoring chances. In fact, Ahmed Atef had a counterattack chance to seal the game in a one-on-one situation with time already up, but Iturbe prevailed again.