It ended, as it had for a long time seemed that it would, with penalties. And as has happened twice before at the Africa Cup of Nations in the past 24 years, Egypt beat Ivory Coast on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Eric Bailly, who had had an excellent game, saw his dinked effort pushed against the crossbar by Egypt’s substitute keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal. Combined with Mohamed Salah’s decisive spot-kick, it was enough for Carlos Queiroz’s Egypt to progress.
Unbending, unyielding, Queiroz remains the same as he always been. His hair may slowly be retreating from his crown with each passing year but the hands-on-hip prowl around his technical area means the same as it ever did. So too does the football.
“It’s down to work,” Queiroz said. “We have prepared very well since our last match. We repeated what we did during training. We were there in the spaces and marking. Concentration and respect for the game plan. We were the best team, we had the best chances.”
Equatorial Guinea continued their giantkilling run as they reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 6-5 penalty shootout victory over Mali after a goalless draw in Limbe.
Equatorial Guinea are the final side to advance to the last eight, where they will meet Senegal on Sunday, and had their 20-year-old goalkeeper Jesus Owono (pictured) to thank for their progress as he made two saves in the shootout which was concluded after 16 kicks.
"It's historic for us to get this far and it comes after excellent work by my players," said Equatorial Guinea coach Juan Micha.
His Mali counterpart Mohamed Magassouba, whose country play in World Cup playoffs in March, said: "It's an incredible disappointment because it should not have even gone to penalties. We deserved more today."
Mali had been the overwhelming favourites but turned in an underwhelming performance, despite dominating possession and creating most of the chances.
Owono saved the final kick from Mali defender Falaye Sacko although it was checked first by VAR to see whether he had advanced off his line before the kick was taken.
He had indeed moved forward but his back foot was still trailing on the line as Sacko took his penalty and the kick was allowed to stand by the referee, setting off tear-filled celebrations.
Equatorial Guinea had beaten defending champions Algeria and Sierra Leone in the group stage and have now added another major scalp. Reuters
Queiroz has spent the tournament despairing of fans who doubt his cautious approach and demand Egypt “kick the ball forward, kick the ball forward”, insisting he was content to wait for “one small mistake, one rebound”. Against this Ivorian defence, it was less likely to be one small mistake than several big ones. The pitch in Douala is probably even more disappointing than the media facilities, which perhaps offers some excuse, but again and again passes were misplaced.
As Queiroz had hinted, Egypt did not so much try to create anything as wait for Ivory Coast to present them with the ball but, as in the group stage, a vaunted forward line squandered the opportunities. Omar Marmoush pinged a 15th-minute shot off the crossbar but, that aside, Egypt’s threat was largely theoretical.
The Ivory Coast coach, Patrice Beaumelle, has twice won the Cup of Nations as assistant to Hervé Renard and apes Renard’s famous lucky white shirt. The rugged Mills & Boon hero look though, is rather undermined by his decision to pair the shirt with a pair of Jerry Seinfeld trainers. And he could not overcome the familiar failing of Ivory Coast against Egypt.
Early in the second half, as the game became tense and the tempo rose, it became a case of the terrible finishing of Egypt against the terrible crossing of Ivory Coast. But Queiroz soon put a stop to that, shifting to 4-2-3-1. Egypt became increasingly conservative and wasted time at every opportunity. It was all very familiar; Egypt have always been masters of that if they feel the game might be slipping from them.
Queiroz preaches control and, while a shootout clearly offers no guarantees, it was better than the alternative of taking Ivory Coast on in an open game. And when you have Salah taking your final penalty, that does tip things in your favour. Morocco will be harder to stifle on Sunday, but Queiroz will not change: Egypt are in the last eight having only scored two goals.
