The Pharaohs progress to AFCON quarter-finals

CAIRO-26 January 2022: The Pharaohs defeated Ivory Coast on penalty shoot-outs to book their place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.

After 120 minutes of intense play, the game was decided on penalties as the regular and extra times could not separate the two sides.

The Egyptians are in the quarter-finals of the competition and they will have a derby clash with Morocco for a place in the semis.

The first half saw a beautiful attacking display from the Pharaohs, who managed to dissect the defense of the Elephants thanks to the beautiful passes between the lines, however the Egyptians’ chances were not enough to break the deadlock.

Also, the Ivorians managed to test Mohamed El Shenawy, Egypt’s goalkeeper, on few occasions but El Shenawy was in the perfect place when needed.

The second half started with dominance from the players in orange who kept pushing for the opener but El Shenawy was again ready to make sime unbelievable saves to keep his net clean.

Hamdy Fathy and El Shenawy were injured and forced to leave the game to be replaced by Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Mohamed Abo Gabal respectively.

The minutes went by with both teams failing to break the deadlock until the referee’s whistle sent the game to extra-time.

Another 30 minutes of top performance from the two sides failed to split the teams and the game went to penalty-shootouts.

The Pharaohs converted five out of five penalties while Abo Gabal saved Eric Baily’s shot to guide the Egyptians to the quarter-finals.