Salah’s penalty saved Egypt from disaster, poor Ghana continued where they left off – Soccernet.ee

Considered the title favorites at the African Championship, but having lost several key men to injuries shortly before the tournament, Nigeria began the tournament with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea. Even closer to disaster was Egypt, who only drew 2-2 against Mozambique in extra time. In the last match of the evening, another shock hit Ghana, who lost 1:2 to Cape Verde.

Outsiders Equatorial Guinea, one of the weakest participants in the final according to FIFA rankings, shocked the Nigerians with the first goal when Iban Salvador, playing for Polish Premier League team Legnica Miedz, gave them the lead. Just ten seconds after the restart from the center circle, however, Ademola Lookman’s pass found Victor Osimhen in front of goal and Africa’s best footballer equalized the scores with a header.

Salvador’s goal was Equatorial Guinea’s only shot in the frame, but Nigeria also failed to create enough chances in the second half. Jesus Owono stood out with several saves and, with a quarter of an hour to go, Osimhene also had a one-on-one against him. Three-time African champions Nigeria have not lifted the trophy since 2013, and if hosts Ivory Coast lose in their second group match they will be in trouble. At the same time it is also possible to advance from the subgroup with third place.

Victor Osimhen equalizes for Nigeria TWO MINUTES from Equatorial Guinea’s lead 😤

His first goal of the AFCON tournament 👏 pic.twitter.com/1JHrZfciOX
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 14, 2024

In Group B, Egypt made a perfect start against outsiders Mozambique with just a minute and a half remaining when Nantes striker Mostada Mohamed ended a melee in the penalty area with a precise shot. With Egypt’s narrow lead, we went to the break, but when we returned from there, Mozambique, which is only in the second hundred in the FIFA rankings, surprised us with two quick shots: the first, Witi, who plays in the top Portuguese series Nacional, and then Clesio Bauque, who last year played for Honka in the Finnish top flight, but moved to Azerbaijan after the failure of the Espoo club in the top flight Qabala.

Fortunately Egypt escaped defeat, because it was already overtime when Mohamed anticipated Domingos Macandza’s attempt to clear the ball in the penalty area with his foot. Chief referee Dahane Beida took some time to assess Macandza’s move, which hit the Egyptian’s leg, as deserving of a penalty, but when he returned from the screen, the Mauritanian’s decision was certain. Salah left the goalkeeper no chance with a precise shot and still saved Egypt at 2-2.

⚽️🅰️

Goals and assists for @MoSalah in that of Egypt #AFCON2023 opening 👏 pic.twitter.com/oitwymqbIE
— ~ (@snappedlfc) January 14, 2024

In the second match of the same subgroup, four-time African champions Ghana, who fell from the top in recent years and lost to Comoros in the decisive group match two years ago, struggled. Striker Jamiro Monteiro, who previously tried his luck in the Dutch Premier League and the French Premier League, and now plays extensively for the San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS, gave the Green Islands an early 1-0 lead, and although Majeed Ashimeru was able to celebrate the equalizer with a powerful long-range shot, he was taken to VAR with the help of the Ghanaians for offside.

Irishman Chris Hughton’s side grabbed an equalizer early in the second half when Jordan Ayew’s corner was headed into the net by Fenerbahce defender Alexander Djiku. During the remaining playing time, the Green Islands had better opportunities to win and one of them was finally taken advantage of. Ghana’s defenders and goalkeeper Richard Ofori created a lot of confusion in front of their own goal, Benchimol, who plays in Benfica’s Portuguese doubles team, picked up the ball and pushed it to Garry Rodrigues, who had to fight to form in front with an empty goal.

The Black Stars continue where they left off in the last AFCON. Absolute disaster

Ghana 🇬🇭 1-2 🇨🇻 Cape Verde

⚽️Alexander Djiku 56′

⚽️ Jamiro Monteiro 17′
⚽ Garry Rodrigues 90+2′#AFCON2023 #CAN2023 pic.twitter.com/3JbZIoYXEQ
— Africa Soccer Zone (@AfricaSoccer_zn) January 14, 2024

On the Ghana side, veteran Andre Ayew made history when he intervened in the last half hour of the match. The 34-year-old winger has now participated in eight tournaments caricatured by African nations: the same number of finals was recorded by Cameroonian Rigobert Song and Egyptian Ahmed Hassan. However, Ayew has a chance to surpass Song in the number of matches already played in this tournament, because the Cameroonian currently holds the record with 36 matches, while Ayew played his 35th match against the Greenland Islands. Furthermore, the Ghanaian can conquer another record if he scores in this tournament. In that case, he would have managed to score in seven finals, and no African player has ever demonstrated anything comparable.

Most matches played at AFCON

1. Rigobert Song – 36 games
2. Andre Ayew – 35 games

Most appearances in the AFCON

1. Rigoberto’s song – 8
Ahmed Hassan – 8
Andrew Ayew-8 pic.twitter.com/pP39Ty8z6l
— Emanuele (@LigaLavo) January 14, 2024

Results:

Subgroup A:

Nigeria – Equatorial Guinea 1:1 (1:1)

38. Victor Osimhen – 36. Iban Salvador

Classification:

Subgroup B:

Egypt – Mozambique 2:2 (1:0)

2. Mostafa Mohamed, 90+7. pen.pen. Mohamed Salah – 55. Witi, 58. Clesio Bauque

Ghana – Rohene Mesaared 1:2 (0:1)

56. Alexander Djiku – 17. Jamiro Monteiro, 90+2. Garry Rodrigues

Classification:

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