Egypt were stripped of their qualification in extra time, with Ghana almost eliminated in the last second

After the frenetic spectacle of Group A at the end of the afternoon, it was the turn of Group B to be judged this Monday evening with two giants of the continent, Ghana and Egypt. Both teams had their backs almost against the wall and this group was particularly followed by Cote d’Ivoire who could be confident of their chances of qualifying as the best third based on the results of this group. The first eye was on the meeting between Ghanaians and Mozambique. Both teams could still qualify and a win was imperative.

The Black Stars, favorites in this match, had a very good start to this meeting with Mohammad Qudus still very active. Jordan Ayew’s teammates logically opened the scoring. The Crystal Palace striker calmly converted a penalty early in the match (15th). Enough for his team to stay calm in this match and force Mozambique to come out and do all they can to turn this match around. And this allowed the Ghanaians to calmly manage the match and score another goal after returning from the locker room. It was Jordan again, again from the penalty spot, who ensured his team’s qualification with this second place in the final rankings. At least that’s what we thought until the time we added it. Because in the last seconds, to everyone’s surprise, Mozambique scored two goals thanks to Catamo and Mandawa (2-2). The result relegated Ghana to third place with 2 points.

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Two absolutely insane matches

In the other match, Egypt’s Pharaohs had to outright win against Cape Verde, who had already qualified and were guaranteed to top the group. On paper, this looked ideal for the CAN wins record holders (7). Without Mohamed Salah (present in the stands), Egypt started their match well with very interesting phases of possession and many good chances. But from the start of this CAN, Rui Vitoria’s men were plagued by defensive errors and Cape Verde opened the scoring on their first chance thanks to Benchimol (43rd). An actual earthquake temporarily removed Egypt from this goal.

Back from the locker room, and fortunately for them, Omar Marmoush’s teammates equalized. It was Trezeguet who found the fault (50th) to give his family hope and allow them to secure third place at best, in the worst case scenario. In a completely disjointed end to a match with huge space on both sides, we felt a tremendous amount of pressure and stress on Egypt’s shoulders. The Cape Verdeans played hard in this group and even tried to get three points. But Egypt have the resources and in the last seconds, it was Mostafa Mohamed who scored a great goal (2-1, 90th + 4). A goal that accompanied Mozambique’s equalizer in the other match condemned Ghana and sealed the fate of the second-placed Egyptians. And luckily for them, because Teixeira equalized in the last action (2-2, 90th + 6). Egypt is second with three points.