Egypt can seemingly only do it dramatically: In the semi-finals of the Africa Cup, Mohamed Salah’s team defeated hosts Cameroon on penalties. The final now brings a showdown between two team-mates.
Mohamed Salah didn’t have to fix it himself this time. In the last 16 against the Ivory Coast, the Liverpool attacker converted the last and decisive penalty. This time, too, he was probably destined to take his team’s fifth shot – but it didn’t come to that.
Although Salah did not provide the last action of the game, he did provide the first noteworthy one with a shot just beside the goal (9th). Otherwise, the North Africans’ idea of quickly bridging the midfield rarely worked, and their Liverpool FC star was completely up in the air for long stretches – just like his opposite number Aboubakar, the tournament’s top scorer.
Cameroon were a little quicker in midfield, but it was a centre-back who had by far the two best chances of the entire regular season: former Germany professional Ngadeu-Ngadjuj (Sandhausen, Nürnberg II) first hit the crossbar with a header after a corner kick (19th) and then made a completely free-standing hole in the air after the immediately following corner (20th). However, the efforts of the more active hosts remained mostly harmless, and both teams shied away from taking risks.
Egypt’s coach gets the only highlight
This did not change much after the change of ends, but Egypt – also thanks to the substitution of Trezeguet – got into the game better. This also meant that Onana had to deal with the ball for the first time: The Ajax keeper kept out a header by Mohamed (46th) and then saved from Salah, who had broken through, well in front of his goal (57th). Cameroon at least started to be dangerous through Toko Ekambi from a free-kick (69th) and Oum Gouet with a long-range shot (71st).
The game was now completely even, but not particularly attractive. The tempo decreased and the duel increasingly lived on the tension. The most spectacular scene of the final phase was even a freak-out by Egypt’s coach Carlos Queiroz, who got into an argument with the linesman after a free kick decision in midfield, could no longer be calmed down and finally saw the red card (90th). So the game continued without him on the sidelines – and only a few minutes later one of Queiroz’s assistants also saw a yellow card.
Three missed shots: Cameroon fail to hold their nerve
The 0-0 draw after 90 minutes was ultimately only the logical consequence of an altogether tired semi-final, and for Egypt it meant their third extra time in a row. The spectators in Yaoundé were briefly given hope of a little more entertainment when Salah (101st) and Mohamed (105th) missed promising chances for Egypt. But in the second period of extra time, both teams only stuttered their way towards the final whistle. Curious: Egypt’s Sherif was not substituted until the 106th minute and only twelve minutes later. The midfielder was not injured, but had to make room for penalty taker Zizo.
He was the first to score for the record winners – as were his team-mates Abdelmonem and Lasheen. More than three Egyptians did not have to shoot as Moukoudi and Lea Siliki failed to beat Abou Gabal and N’Jie put the last penalty to the right of the goal.
Even without a shot from Salah, Egypt are through to the final of the Africa Cup for the first time since 2010, where they will meet Senegal, who had previously beaten Burkina Faso. It will also be a showdown between two Liverpool FC team-mates and perhaps the best African footballers: Salah versus Mané.
