Izuchukwu Okosi
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North African giants Egypt on Wednesday evening at the Japoma Stadium qualified to the quarter finals of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 following a 5-4 penalties shootouts victory over Cote d’Ivoire.
The victory over the star-studded Ivoroan side sent Egypt who only finished behind Nigeria in Group D of the tournament to the quarter finals to play Morocco for a place in the semis.
The seven-time African champions kept their nerves to beat the 1992 winners of the tournament Cote d’Ivoire with substitute goalkeeper Mohamed Daader saving Eric Bailly’s poorly executed spot kick.
AC Milan midfield ace Franck Yannick Kessie had the first effort of the much talked about match when his long-range effort from distance agonizingly missed El Shenawy’s goal. Kessie was later substituted due to injury on his ribs.
The Pharaohs went close to opening the scoring as Omar Khalid Marmoush’s fierce strike smashed the frame of Badra Ali Sangare’s goal with 16 minutes played.
With the teams not separated in 90 minutes extra time was required but it couldn’t produce a winner either.
Ibrahim Sangare came close in extra time with a brilliant effort for Cote d’Ivoire before Mahmoud Hassan missed a great opportunity from Mohamed Salah’s cut back on the stroke of full-time.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
