June 7 (Reuters) - ⁠Egypt's coach Hossam Hassan sees the opening match in ⁠the World Cup against Belgium as the most difficult ‌game in the "highly competitive" group G.

Egypt lost 2-1 to five-times champion Brazil in Cleveland on Sunday, in their final warm-up friendly ahead of their fourth ​appearance in the World Cup.

Newcastle midfielder Bruno ⁠Guimaraes scored the opening ⁠goal early from inside the box and Lyon forward Endrick added ⁠in ‌the second half after an assist from Barcelona's Raphinha. Zico scored for Egypt, while Skipper Mohamed Salah played ⁠the secondhalf and seemed to be in good ​form.

“Salah underwent a ‌rehabilitation program with Liverpool and then with the national ⁠team, and ​he is now ready for matches,” Hassan told reporters.

Seven-times African champions open their Group G campaign against Belgium on June 15, before facing ⁠New Zealand and Iran.

"The opening match ​against Belgium at the World Cup will be extremely difficult, and the group is strong and highly competitive," Hassan, who competed in ⁠the World Cup as a player in 1990, said.

Hassan expressed his disappointment after losing to Brazil, but stressed that he was satisfied with the players’ performance despite the loss.

“I do not ​like losing, and I am saddened by ⁠the defeat to Brazil, even though they are one of the ​biggest teams in the world," he ‌said. “We faced a strong and outstanding ​team in the final match before the World Cup.”

(Reporting by Ahmed El Ghannam in CairoEditing by Tomasz Janowski)