Egypt 0 (5) – 0 (4) Côte d’Ivoire: It’s third time unlucky for the Elephants

For a third consecutive time in their head-to-head AFCON history, the Pharaohs of Egypt came out victorious against the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire.

No goals were scored in 120 minutes of action but the Mohamed Salah converted the last spot-kick after Eric Bailly had missed sending Egypt into the quarter-final, where they will face Morocco.

This is the third consecutive time the Pharaohs have stopped the Elephants at AFCON; first in 2006, on penalties followed by a 4-1 win in 2008, and now another penalty triumph in the 2022 edition.

The Elephants, after their 4-1 thrashing of pre-tournament favourites, Algeria in their last group match started the brighter but Egypt were the first to threaten when Omar Marmoush crashed his free-kick off the bar in the 17th-minute. Badra Sangare also had made a save from a Salah effort.

Mohamed El Shenawy was called into action in the 39th-minute when he had to deal with Ibrahim Sangare’s acrobatic volley.

The second half was as cautious as the first.

Sebastian Haller had an effort saved in the 70th minute as the game became more stretched and the players began feeling the heat and humidity.

Mohamed Abougabal replaced El Shenawy in the 88th minute in what looked like a tactical shuffle in preparation for penalties.

After 120 minutes, Abougabal thwarted Bailly’s nonchalant third penalty-an an advantage the Pharaohs held on to qualify for the quarter-final.