- Dramatic penalty shootouts’ shocker for the Pharaohs
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – The dramatic delivery of this year’s TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoireis not letting off the steam with the latest big name casaulty being Egypt who have been bundled out of the tournament on penalties by Democratic Republic of Congo.
With the Leopards dumping the Pharaohs out of the continental fiesta to set up a quarter-final meeting against Syli Nationale of Guinea, the big loser is Liverpool’s talisman, Mohamed Salah who was somewhat banking on a late return to the tournament after his initial injury blow. By this defeat, the hope has been dashed entirely.
Another big loser on the night, who made the Pharaohs’ dream of storming the Alassane Ouattara Stadium on February 2 for a quarter-final tie unrealisable, was Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan commonly known as Trézéguet.
Despite being the hero when he came off the bench to inspire his team to the vital draw against Cape Verde for their place in the last-16, Trezeguet looked like a completely different player when handed a start against DR Congo. He failed to act as a threat for a team that desperately needed someone to provide the kind of spark that we know him to be capable of.
For the 120 minutes the game that this Round of 16 game lasted, Stade Laurent Pokou was blazing throughout, especially when Meschack Elia scored to put D.R Congo into the the lead in the 37th minute. Elia impressively slipped behind the Egyptian defenders to head home from the six-yard box for the opening goal of the night.
The Pharaohs showed the stuff they are made up of by responding to Congo’s lead in the first half and awarded a penalty after VAR review, forward Mostafa Mohamed made no mistake converting it into the top right corner, with Leopards’ goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi-Nzau left stranded on his lines.
Despite their second half dominance, the Egyptians could not break down the resilient D.R Congo defense and the match finally went into extra time, the very first one of the ongoing tournament in Côte D’Ivoire.
Though reduced to 10-men in the extra-time after Hamdi Mohamed was sent off following his second yellow card of the game, the numerical disadvantage did not prevent the Pharaohs from pressing and creating the chances upon chances which unfortunately they could not convert.
With the game having to be decided on penalty shootouts, Egypt missed twice from the penalty spot, Mostafa Mohamed and goalkeeper, Gabaski both missed their kicks, Arthur Masuaku had missed his earlier for D.R Congo. But eventually, D.R Congo triumphed 8-7 on penalties to progress to the quarter-finals.
For the Egyptians, they are thrice unlucky having failed to advance from the Round of 16 in three previous attempts. On their part, D.R Congo are progressing having been eliminated in their first knockout game in their two previous appearances (2019 and 2017).
Sébastien Desabre – DR Congo Coach – I’m very proud of my players. We had a strategy in place to contain this team, but we played too low in the first half. I changed it afterwards and we played better. We suffered, but I think Egypt did too.
My knowledge of Egyptian football probably helped us. They’re a good team but we were better today. Mentally, I think we were very strong. Now we’ll try to recover well and then we’ll take it match after match, starting with Guinea, our next opponent.
Rui Vitoria, Egypt Coach – It wasn’t what we expected. We came up against a tough opponent. Each team have its strong and weak moments. We’re very sad. We worked hard to go far in the competition.
Then there was the penalty shoot-out and that wasn’t our day. In football, there are good times and bad times. Part of the responsibility is mine. We’re going to keep working with this team as long as I am here. – With agencies reports
