Thanks to a nervy Mohamed Salah, Egypt beat the Ivory Coast in a penalty shoot-out and are through to the Africa Cup quarter-finals. Morocco await them there.
In the last 16 of the Africa Cup, Côte d’Ivoire, now favourites for the tournament, met Egypt, who, including Salah, had not been very convincing so far. The French coach of the “Elephants”, Patrice Baumelle, sent in the same line-up as in the 3-1 win over Algeria at the end of the group stage, only Bailly, who had recently suffered a head injury, returned to the starting eleven in place of Leverkusen’s Koussounou. In contrast, Egypt’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz made changes in two positions after the laboured 1-0 win over Sudan: Fatouh replaced Ashraf in defence and Fathi started in midfield for El-Said.
Good chances for both in half one
At around 30 degrees in Douala, Côte d’Ivoire dominated the action in the opening minutes with plenty of possession, but it was the “Pharaohs” who created the first chances: first through Stuttgart’s Marmoush, who slammed the ball against the crossbar from around 25 metres (18th), only three minutes later Salah also registered: The Liverpool star moved into the centre and failed to beat the Ivorian keeper Sangaré with an outside shot. After 30 minutes, Kessié had to come off for Serey Dié, the Milan star having already received treatment after being hit in the lower back.
Egypt began to control possession, but Côte d’Ivoire fought their way back into the match and created two clear-cut chances towards the end of the first half. First, Ibrahima Sangaré’s spectacular side-footed strike failed to beat Egyptian keeper El-Shenawy (37th), who was also on hand to save Haller’s long-range volley (45th+1).
Egypt initially negligent – Haller and Zaha register
After the break, Egypt then dominated: Al-Sulaya, practically alone in front of Sangaré in the sixteen (52.), however, shot the ball over the goal, Elneny’s attempt towards the angle was well saved (54.) and Mostafa Mohamed again shot across the box (62.).
In the 70th minute of the match, the West Africans made a comeback in the opposition penalty area – with a header by Haller, which El-Shenawy saved brilliantly. The following period passed without any major highlights, neither team had a chance to score. Then, however, substitute Zaha had his first good opportunity, but failed to hit El-Shenawy with a low shot in the sixteen (84th). The latter was injured in the situation and had to be substituted shortly afterwards, Abou Gabal came on for him (84th). Neither nation made a serious effort towards the end of the game to concede a goal themselves in order to score one and thus avert extra time.
In extra time, the “Pharaohs” in particular had some decent opportunities – but still without being able to act in a compelling and completely determined manner. Both teams could feel the almost 30 degree air temperature. In the last minute, Egypt created a chance, but Trezeguet was not able to put enough pressure on the ball after Salah’s pass.
Bailly is the only one to miss, Salah converts decisively
So the game went into extra time, but neither Ivory Coast nor Egypt managed a goal in the 30 extra minutes. So the decision had to be made in a penalty shoot-out after 120 minutes.
The “elephants” started the match from eleven metres. Pépé and Ibrahima Sangaré scored first, as did Zizo and Al-Sulaya for Egypt. Bailly’s casual penalty kick without a run-up (and now without his head protection) was deflected onto the crossbar by Egyptian keeper Abou Gabal. The next two shooters each scored again: Cornet for the West Africans and Abdelmonem for the North Africans. Therefore, the last Ivorian shooter, Zaha, was already under pressure to score – and did. So it was up to Salah – and the Egyptian national hero once again proved his nerve, sending the “Pharaohs” into the quarter-finals.
Ivory Coast, the next hosts of the Africa Cup in the summer of 2023, are thus out of the current tournament – another disappointment after their elimination in the World Cup qualifiers. Egypt will face Morocco in the quarter-finals next Sunday at 5 p.m. (CET)