Salah shines as Egypt advances to African Cup semifinals

Yaounde, January 30 (BNA): Mohamed Salah scored the equalizer and assisted the winning goal to inspire Egypt’s return on Sunday to beat Morocco 2-1 after extra time and reach the African Cup semi-finals.

Egypt retreated to an early penalty kick that Ashraf Hakimi won and Sofiane Boufal hit it in the seventh minute, according to the Associated Press.

Egypt captain Salah reacted swiftly to rebound to make it 1-1 in the 53rd minute and sent a perfectly low cross for Trezeguet to approach the end of the first half of extra time.

Egypt was left to rely on third-choice goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi for most of the extra times after the injury of Mohamed Abu Gabal, who was already on the team instead of first-choice Mohamed El-Shennawy.

Abu Jabal was injured in the original time but tried to play through it. He couldn’t, and had to go out in the sixth minute of extra time, leaving 22-year-old Sobhi to make his debut for his country at the end of the high pressure match.

In the end, he was not tested, and Salah and Trezeguet shared the win four minutes after Sobhi entered. Salah faced three defenders who covered him on the right wing, but he went outside and crossed with his right foot into Trezeguet’s path at the back post.

Salah almost got a second in the final, chaotic moments when Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou joined an attack in a desperate search for an equaliser and left the Moroccan goalkeeper unguarded.

Egypt broke and Salah chased a through ball, but he could not push it into the empty net from a narrow angle.

Did not matter. The full time came after about a minute, and Egypt reached the semi-finals against hosts Cameroon, a repeat of the 2017 African Cup final won by Cameroon.

Egypt has not won the African Cup since achieving a record seventh title in 2010. Salah made his debut for the national team a year after that victory and is still searching for his first major title with his country.

insult