Egypt Advance To Quarterfinals, See Off Ivory Coast On Penalties

The knockout rounds of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON 2021 continued to deliver as two of Africa’s giants, Egypt and Ivory Coast faced off in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.

Egypt and Ivory Coast qualified for the knockouts rather convincingly with the latter recording a famous victory over title favourites and defending champions Algeria.

Egypt who attained six points from three games falling short to already eliminated Nigeria in Group D, are yet to see the best of their talisman Mohammed Salah as he has scored just one goal so far in the tournament.

But with the two teams being favourites to emerge champions of Africa, Wednesday’s faceoff was a game of so much promise and a thriller.

The AFCON cracker saw Egypt and Ivory Coast starting off brightly but showed each other much respect as they were both reserved going forward. Egypt had the better of the chances in the first half but once again misfiring in front of goal, seeing the first half end goalless.

The Elephants came out stronger, playing more attractively and posing more threat. That attacking resilience created a flurry of chances for Ivory Coast but were matched by Egypt’s defensive doggedness supported by their ever reliable shot stopper Mohamed El Shanawy who was named in the Group Stage best XI. The two teams were almost evenly matched as they went into extra time still goalless, leading to a penalty shootout.

The Pharaohs triumphed over their opponents in the shootout as Captain Mohammed Salah scored the decisive spot kick to send his country into the quarter finals at the expense of the Elephants. Eric Bailly was the guilty party in the Ivory Coast squad as his missed penalty gave Egypt the edge, the only blemish on his outstanding performance of the night.

Ivory Coast and Egypt faced off for the 11th time at the Africa Cup of Nations; the most played fixture in the competition’s history, while Egypt have progressed in the last four encounters with the Elephants.

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