|
|
|
|
|
Egypt won somewhat convincingly, performing well yet
again to merit qualification into the Second Round with
7 of a possible 9 points.
Mido couldn't continue because of muscle strain
Group A:
Pos. Nation. Points.
1st Egypt 7
2nd Ivory Coast 6
3rd Morocco 2
4th Libya 1
Ivory Coast started without a few of their stars, including
Kolo Toure. Hassan Shehata meanwhile made two changes,
putting Abotrica back into the line-up and replacing
Amr Zaki with Emad Moteb.
The game got off to a flying start. With less than 8
minutes on the clock an Abdelwahab cross was met by
El Saka, who headed it at the far post, where Emad Moteb
was vitally present to nod it into the net.
Egypt continued their pressure with a number of openings,
but with Mido hurting his knee he limped off and Hossam
Hassan, 39 years old, jogged onto the pitch. Egypt looked
almost down to 10 men, and the rest of the half saw
rampant attacks from Ivory Coast.
Keeper Essam El Hadari had to make a few great saves
from long range strikes, although he scrambled across
his goal-line on one occasion when the ball skimmed
wide. The equaliser came at a bad time, with just a
couple of minutes left till the break. It was Aruna
Kone who was given too much time on the edge of the
box, and he hit a shot which took a touch of Ibrahim
Said as it beat the goalkeeper.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Egypt tried to respond with an Abotrica effort which was hit
on the turn but saved, and at half time the feeling wasn't
great although both teams looked like they were comfortably
qualifying.
In the second half, Hossam Hassan jumped at the Ivorian keeper,
injuring him and forcing a change for the visitors. And just
after the hour mark, Abdelwahab played a pass into the centre
which Hossam Hassan flicked on high into the left side of
the box. Abotrica took it in style with his left foot, putting
it beyond the substitute keeper and into the far side of the
net.
Abotrica's celebrations on the track resulted in a yellow
card; he'll miss the next game as a result. The midfielder
was in tears for the next five minutes!
Egypt added another shortly, with Moteb hitting the ball above
the keeper, who got a small touch onto it rebounding it off
the bar. Hossam was there and had an empty goal, but his header
was shockingly weak and inaccurate. Luckily, Moteb was back
on his feet to put the ball in from close range before it
went out. Hossam held his face in disbelief but the crowd
and staff were celebrating a victory.
Ivory Coast pressured Egypt in the remaining minutes, with
the Pharaohs pushing on the break. Moteb could have had a
hat-trick when he was through on the right but the flag was
incorrectly up. Nonetheless, it was an impressive win for
Egypt who'll meet either DR Congo or Cameroon in the quarter-final.
There were promising signs all around the pitch in all three
games, although today's EP's man of the match was number 1
El Hadari, who had had little to do in the first two games.
News on Mido's injury is key, and EP will keep you updated
on it as well as all of Egypt's news in the African Nations
Cup...
- Discuss the latest about our professionals abroad in EP
forums
- Check this special offer: 1000MB 50GB Web Hosting for
only $9.95/month with no contracts. PHP4, MYSQL, CGI, SSH
all included. Click
here!
|
|
|
|
|
