Egypt fell into a 2-2 draw against Mozambique, on Sunday, at the start of the second group matches of the African Cup of Nations at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan. Mohamed Salah equalized in stoppage time with a penalty kick, after his team took the lead with a goal from Mostafa Mohamed in the second minute, but the “Snakes” team rose up and scored two goals in the 55th and 58th minutes, achieving the first surprise in this 34th edition.
Published on: 01/14/2024 – 20:22
4 minutes
Egypt was steadily moving towards victory at the beginning of its participation 2024 African Cup of Nations FootballHowever, it settled for a 2-2 draw due to its disastrous performance at the start of the second stage of its match against Mozambique. The Egyptians scored a successful start when Mohamed scored against goalkeeper Silwan from the second minute, and they had several opportunities to deepen the gap, but they failed in front of the goal and left the way for their opponent to regain self-confidence and score two goals within three minutes.
The Portuguese coach of the “Pharaohs” national team, Rui Vitoria, did not hide his intention to grab the winning points, and prepared an attacking lineup that included the trio Salah-Mohamed-Trezeguet and three midfield players, Elneny, Fathi, and Zizou. El-Shenawy was in goalkeeper, behind the defense four: Hani-Abdel-Moneim-Hegazy-Hamdy.
From the beginning, the Egyptians did not leave any opportunity to move against Mozambique, and imposed a severe stranglehold on it, causing confusion in the “Mambas” formation. The attacking tendency of Salah’s teammates was confirmed in the second minute when Mohamed succeeded in scoring the net following a collective shot that started from Lenny and then continued with a pass on a golden platter from Hamdi on the left wing, so that the French club Nantes striker shot into the left corner of goalkeeper Silouane.
Egypt’s attempts continued without interruption, and in the eighth minute, the “Pharaohs” launched a quick counterattack after Salah’s pass to Mohamed, who drove the ball even into the Mozambique area, but the shot was weak and the goalkeeper easily blocked it.
But in the 17th minute, Mozambique had a good opportunity that almost resulted in an equalizer from striker Viti, but the latter’s shot went outside the frame.
Egypt responded with a wonderful opportunity that concluded with a beautiful pass from Salah to Mohamed, with the latter passing to his colleague Trezeguet, who shot towards the goal to find goalkeeper Silouane’s right post.
The Egyptians took their breath away in the 35th minute when Mozambique came close to equalizing with friendly fire, as Hamdi almost put the ball into his team’s goal at the end of a beautiful attack from the left side, but El-Shenawy shone and rose to deflect the ball into a corner kick.
The face of the match turned and the face of the “snakes” turned.
While things seemed to be going in the right direction for the “Pharaohs” team, and while their control of the match continued, Mozambique was able to turn the tables on its opponent, equalizing in the 55th minute through Viti with a wonderful header before scoring a second goal in the 58th minute through Pukki after… A huge mistake by Hegazy.
The face of the match changed and the face of the “snakes” changed, so Egypt started running after the equalizer and avoiding messages of blame and ridicule on social media sites with a “historic” loss to a modest team. Marmoush and Kamal entered the place of Trezeguet and Hani, then Ashour and Koka took the place of Elneny and Zizo, in an attempt to remedy the situation.
Salah had a good opportunity in the 82nd minute after a mistake in the Mozambique defense, but the shot went outside the goal. In the end, Egypt won a penalty kick in stoppage time after a foul on Mohamed inside the area, which Salah converted into the equalizer. But it tasted like a loss.
Meziani bonus
2024-01-14 19:22:20
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