Mohamed Salah impressed Egypt to a put within the Africa Cup of International locations semi-finals on Sunday as the account seven-time champions came from at the support of to defeat Morocco 2-1 in overtime in Yaounde.
Sofiane Boufal’s early penalty build Morocco in entrance within the last-eight tie however skipper Salah equalised for Egypt early within the 2nd half after which made the winner for Mahmoud Trezeguet 10 minutes into overtime.
Egypt will play hosts Cameroon within the semi-finals in Yaounde on Thursday.
Morocco took a 3-2 lead with one match drawn into the seventh showdown between the north African giants within the marquee African match.
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Coaches Vahid Halilhodzic of Morocco and Carlos Queiroz of Egypt made two changes each and every after last-16 victories over Malawi and the Ivory Wing respectively.
Aymen Barkok became as soon as launched on the correct facet of the Moroccan midfield pretty than Imran Louza and forward Munir el Haddadi replaced injured Ayoub el Kaabi.
Star Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Elshenawy failed to recover from an injury incurred towards the Ivorians and Mohamed Abou Gabal took his put.
Midfielder Hamdy Fathy became as soon as moreover ruled out and Ayman Ashraf, on the entire a defender, came in with Queiroz conscious of the probability posed when Morocco suitable-support Achraf Hakimi drifts forward.
It took Hakimi upright three minutes to originate a prime influence as Ashraf failed to join with the ball and fouled the Paris Saint-Germain star, leading to a penalty after a VAR visual show unit test by the referee.
After fluffing a penalty towards the Comoros, Morocco changed takers, and Boufal did now not let the Atlas Lions down, slotting his kick into the correct corner as Abou Gabal dived within the reverse path.
The last time Egypt fell at the support of within the match, towards Nigeria in their opening neighborhood match, they failed to equalise and had to resolve for 2nd put at the support of the Large Eagles within the closing standings.
– Alive to to atone –
Alive to to atone for conceding the penalty, Ashraf introduced a extensive two-hand parried attach out of Morocco goalkeeper Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou midway by the outlet half.
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Egyptian defenders weren’t alarmed to shoot from lengthy differ and Ahmed Fatouh tested Bounou, with the Sevilla shot-stopper all over all over again proving equal to the duty of combating an equaliser.
Hakimi, who scored an even match-a success honest mutter from a free-kick towards Malawi at the the same ground 5 days ago, bought a design-half opportunity no longer far from the box, however fired wide.
Queiroz, the earlier Real Madrid supervisor and twice assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, became as soon as continuously agitated and both the referee and the fourth official spoke to him.
The principle half ended with Morocco holding their one-honest income, and no longer noteworthy seen of Egypt captain and talisman Salah, with the Liverpool star attempting to procure his 2nd honest of the match.
Egypt replaced injured defender Ahmed Hegazy with Trezeguet at half-time and the Aston Villa forward became as soon as narrowly wide with a snap shot upright four minutes into the 2nd half.
Morocco were underneath the cosh and assertive Egypt levelled on 53 minutes as Salah tapped in from shut differ after Bounou will also ultimate parry a Mohamed Abdelmonem header off a corner.
Tempers boiled over minutes from time after Hakimi objected to being fouled by Mostafa Mohamed, triggering pushing from the teams and both players were booked by the overworked referee.
As Morocco step by step regained the ascendancy, Abou Gabal rescued Egypt, pushing a Nayef Aguerd header on to the underside of the crossbar, and with out a additional targets the match went to overtime.
Egypt went ahead on 100 minutes when three Moroccan defenders failed to discontinue Salah, whose atrocious became as soon as turn out to be in at the far publish by Trezeguet.