Egypt and Nigeria progress
Egypt beat neighbours Sudan 1-0 in Yaoundé to ensure their progress to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations, finishing second behind Nigeria in Group D after another laboured performance.
Centre-back Mohamed Abdelmoneim, drafted in because of injury, headed home after 38 minutes from a corner to make the breakthrough as Egypt dominated the derby game but created few chances.
The display will not do much to temper the criticism that followed the Egyptians’ first two games at the tournament, a 1-0 loss to Nigeria followed by a narrow win over tiny Guinea Bissau.
Egypt ended with six points, three behind Nigeria, and will meet the winners of Group E, which is to be settled on Thursday. Sudan finished with one point and were eliminated from the tournament.
Captain Mohamed Salah played a full 90 minutes but few of his combinations with his teammates came off in what was another frustrating performance. “There aren’t any more easy matches in the competitions, so we are just please to go through and believe we can only get stronger,” Egypt defender Ahmed Hegazy said.
Striker Sadiq Umar scored his first goal for Nigeria as they eased to a 2-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau to ensure a full haul of nine points in Group D and oust their opponents.
Umar, who has been criticised for some glaring misses in previous games, netted when Kelechi Iheanacho’s excellent pass with the outside of his boot across the goal provided a tap-in for the tall forward at the back post.
Nigeria were in cruise control and scored a second as William Troost Ekong netted from close-range after Moses Simon had hit the crossbar following a mazy run into the box. Reuters
Full-time: Egypt 1-0 Sudan
They’re not exactly flowing but Egypt are safely into the next round as runners-up to Nigeria. Abdelmonmen’s headed goal in the first half proves enough to dispose of a tough, well organised opponents.
90 min: Salah tries to finish with a flourish, but he passes to no one after twisting past two defenders in the area. It’s not really happened for him today.
87 min: Sudan are making these last few minutes difficult for Egypt. Not so difficult that they look like they will score the two goals they need to advance, but Egypt are not in control. They’ll need to improve if they are to go much farther in this tournament.
84 min: Abdelmonem booked for a challenge from behind on Sharif. That gives Sudan a chance to loft a freekick into the area ... or, as Mazin decides, into the stands. That was a terrible decision and terrible execution.
82 min: Nigeria are now 2-0 up against Guinean Bissua thanks to Trost-Ekong’s goal.
80 min: Abdelrahman’s low freekick from 25 yards deviates off the wall and forces the keeper to adjust quickly to block it. Then he jumps to stop the rebound - with his face.
77 min: Hegazi boots away a cross from the left. Sudan are at least making them defend now.
75 min: Corner to Sudan. They haven’t given up. But they much up the setpiece.
72 min: Abdulrahman bursts through midfield but then misplaces his intended pass; that was the first time in a long time that Sudan have even hinted at troubling Egypt’s defence.
69 min: Another meaty tackle on Salah leads to a freekick just outside the box, to the right. It’s a useful crossing position. Zizo picks out Salah near the penalty spot following a rehearsed move, but the shot is blocked.
67 min: Egypt substitution: Trezeguet on, Marmoush off. Are you watching, Steven Gerrard?
67 min: A cross from the left picks out Salah, who cleverly lays it back into the path of El Solia ... who sidefoots it over the bar from 12 yards!
66 min: Sudan are starting to look like they’re going to go down fighting, one way or the other.
64 min: Nigeria have taken the lead against Guinea Bissau in this group’s other game. The Super Eagles were already sure to go through as group winners but they’re going to do it in style thanks to Sadiq.
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62 min: Salah’s angry with Mazin’s wild tackle on him. He’s not badly hurt but he could have been, as the player went over the ball and into his shin.
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60 min: Beautiful footwork by Salah to dance past two defenders in the box. Then he tries to send a low right-footed shot into the far corner but he doesn’t measure it quite right, allowing the keeper to make the save.
59 min: The vibrancy that Sudan showed in the earlier part of the second half has ben well neutralised by Egypt. They’re in near-total control now.
56 min: Egypt substitution: Zizo on, Said off.
55 min: Marmoush is down in pain just outside the Sudanese D after being clobbered by Karshom.
52 min: El Solia unloads one from 20 yards. It’s well hit but takes a nick off a defender and whizzes wide. Before it’s taken, Musa cops a booking for backchat.
50 min: Two dangerous crosses into the box by Sudan force the Egyptian keeper into meaningful action of the first time. He does fine.
48 min: Sudan have resolved not to just fade away from this tournament. They need at least two goals and they’re doing their utmost to get them. That starts with spending time in the opposing half, which they’ve done over the last few minutes. But their tendency to shoot from any angle once they get to within 30 yards of goal has not served them well so far.
46 min: Sudan substitutions: Hamed and Aboshen on; Hussein and Mustafa off. So that’s a change of goalkeeper, with Mustafa seemingly having been unable to overcome his injury during the break. Pity, he had a decent first half and couldn’t be faulted for the goal.
Half-time: Egypt 1-0 Sudan
That’ll do for the Pharaohs. If things stay the same, they’ll advance to the round of 16 as runners-up from their group (behind Nigeria, who are drawing 0-0 with Guinea Bissau). Sudan need to score twice in the second half to keep alive their own hopes of progressing but they didn’t muster any threat in the first period, though they did defend and compete pretty well. Egypt look capable of increasing their lead, especially from setpieces. Complacency is their biggest opponent now.
45 min: Mustafa seems to have sustained some manner of injury: he’s asked a defender to take the goal kicks for him instead.
42 min: Salah still has at least two players on him every time he gets the ball. ALl he can do this time is win another corner. Marmoush delivers this one but it’s not good enough.
41 min: Marmoush lets fly with his left foot from 10 yards. Mustafa hurls himself to his left to make an excellent save!
38 min: Sudan’s discipline looks to be melting away after the concession of that goal. After the ref whistles for a foul, their players surround and jostle the official, who’s not happy at all with their behaviour. But he defuses the situation well and then walks over to book Hassan for a reckless tackle on Marmoush.
GOAL! Egypt 1-0 Sunda (Abdelmonem 35)
Another good delivery yields the breakthrough, The corner was curled in viciously, and Abdelmonem was able to stoop at the edge of the six-yard box and flick a header past the keeper.
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33 min: After Salah’s poor deliveries, Said takes over corner duties. He produces a perfect delivery for Mohamed, who rises to meet it about 12 yards out, forcing the keeper to make a fine save low to his right.
30 min: Mazin’s feeling confident: he tries to beat the keeper from a difficult angle and 40 yards out. The road to Row Z is paved with good intentions.
28 min: Another Egypt attack peters out with a shoddy pass.
25 min: The corner fails to beat the first man. But Salah gets another go. And that delivery’s as bad as the first.
24 min: Kamal’s shot is blocked behind by not one but two defenders. Salah trots over to take the corner...
22 min: Salah’s sure getting involved now! He tries to dance past three defenders and into the box, and nearly succeeds. But the third one tips the ball off his foot.
20 min:Salah dribbles down the right and into the box. But two defenders combine to stop him.
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18 min: Egypt are starting to grow a little frustrated by Sudan’s well organised defiance.
15 min: Salah has been quiet so far. No one can accuse Egypt of trying to play everything through their star man.
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13 min: Chance for Egypt! It started with Mazin winning the ball off Salah but then giving it away. Egypt zoomed down the left, and Ashraf ‘s powerful shot from 14 yards was parried by the keeper. An Egyptian committed a foul in the scramble for the rebound, giving Sudan a chance to relieve the pressure.
10 min: Sudan can be happy enough with the first 10 minutes. Egypt have dominated but, apart from that early chance for Elneny, haven’t created a really good opening. Sudan are disciplined and energetic, and have hinted at a counter-attacking threat.
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7 min: Egypt continue to play with a testing tempo. They zip down the left flank and into the area before winning a corner, much to the annoyance of Sudan, who point out correctly that the last touch came off a Pharaoh. The ref ignores their quibbles, so they get on with the job of heading the corner away.
5 min: A freekick from the left for Egypt. Mohamed leaps above his marker but glances his header wide from near the penalty spot. You’d fancy Egypt to threaten from setpieces a lot: they’ve got a significant height advantage.
4 min: Abdulrahman does brilliant to beat Hegazi to the ball in midfield and then scampers forward. He slips a pass to Hussein at the right-hand side of the Egyptian box. Hussein loses his cool, however, and tries a hasty poke that drifts way over the bar.
2 min: It’s an aggressive start from the Pharaohs, who seems eager to get the job done as early as possible, They’re swarming all over their opponents, refusing to allow them a moment on the ball. A nod-down to Elneny at the edge of the box gives Egypt a chance to open the scoring, but Elneny hammers the bouncing ball over the bar.
1 min: We have kickoff! Egypt do the honours.
The crowd in Yaoundé is pretty big and very noisy, with horn blast and cheers accompanying the teams’ arrival on to the pitch. Egypt are in red with black trims; the Falcons of Jediane are in all white. Here come the anthems...
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Teams
Egypt: El Shenawy, Kamal, Hegazi, Abdelmonem, Ashraf, Elneny,
El Soleya, El Said, Salah, Mohamed, Marmoush.
Subs: Hamdi Fathi, Trezeguet, Ashour, Sherif, Abougabal, Lasheen, Alaa, Zizo, Gad,
Dawoud, Marwan Hamdi.
Sudan: Mustafa, Alfadni, Hassan, Karshom, Muhamedin,
Al Rasheed, Khidir, Mahjoub, Hasoun, Abdelrazig Omer,
Abdelrahman.
Subs: Achrine, Ismaeil, Amin, Abbas, Hamed, Adam, Makki, Zakaria, Hussien, Bashir, Ahmed, Muhamed.
Referee: J Bondo (Botswana)
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Preamble
Ghana are gone and Algeria are teetering: will Africa’s most decorated country be the next to fall in this tournament of the underdog? Egypt won the first of their seven continental titles in the very first edition of this tournament in Sudan in 1957, when they ousted the hosts in the semi-final. Sudan avenged that in the 1970 semi-final, and today they have a chance to send the Pharaohs packing again, which would make them heroes at home (and probably in Liverpool too).
Egypt only need a draw to reach the last 16, whereas Sudan cannot advance without a win. And they haven’t won in 12 matches, a run that includes a 5-0 defeat in last month’s Arab Cup by none other than Egypt. So Mohamed Salah and Co shouldn’t be too nervous about the challenge ahead.
Then again, the Pharaohs haven’t played well in the tournament so far and were lucky to beat Guinea Bissau in their last match thanks to a wrongly disallowed goal. Sudan put on a decent showing against Guinea Bissau in their opening game before being pummelled by Nigeria. They’re well up for this one. “The beat us 5-0 in the Arab Cup but this time is different,” said Sudan forward Mohamed Abdelrahman. “We have prepared well for this game. We consider Egyptians to be our brothers, facing them is always special. This is a derby.” It’s on!
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