Egypt’s coach, Rui Vitória, blamed a brief lack of concentration for his side’s surprise 2-2 draw with Mozambique in their opening Group B game of the Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah sparing their blushes with a late penalty.
It was a day of surprises at the tournament, with Cape Verde beating Ghana 2-1 in the late game and Nigeria drawing 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea.
Salah scored his spot-kick seven minutes into stoppage time to help Egypt avoid their first loss to Mozambique, who had fallen behind to a second-minute strike from Mostafa Mohamed but roared back with two quick-fire goals in the second half. “We lost concentration for three minutes, but we are still in the race to qualify; nothing is lost,” Vitória told beIN Sports.
Although Mohamed opened the scoring with a fine shot on the turn, Egypt never really clicked into gear. Apart from a Mahmoud Trezeguet effort that hit the outside of the post, Mozambique were barely troubled in the first half.
Salah, who was deployed as a deep-lying forward rather than a right winger for the most part, was also subdued while Mozambique looked lively going forward. Mohamed said humidity in the Ivorian capital had sapped Egypt’s energy.
“The weather in Africa is different; humidity is high and the concentration drops,” he said. “The best thing is that we learn early, so we know our mistakes before the crucial rounds, like the quarter-finals or the round of 16.”
Egypt next face their main challengers Ghana on Thursday before concluding their group stage campaign against Cape Verde on 22 January.
Garry Rodrigues scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Cape Verde beat the four-times champions Ghana in Group B.
Cape Verde went ahead in the 17th minute when Dutch-born Rodrigues’s shot was parried by Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori, falling for Jamiro Monteiro to tuck away from close range.
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Ghana thought they had equalised 10 minutes before half-time when Majeed Ashimeru struck a powerful shot into the net from outside Cape Verde’s penalty area.
But after a VAR check it was disallowed because Ransford Konigsdorffer, in an offside position, was deemed to be interfering by being in the goalkeeper’s line of sight.
Ghana did find parity 11 minutes into the second half with Alexander Djiku heading home from Jordan Ayew’s corner, bending down to get his head to the ball as the islanders’ defence failed to clear an innocuous delivery.
The breakthrough came in stoppage time after Mohammed Salisu failed to clear and a clever touch from debutant substitute Gilson Benchimol took it past Ofori and into Rodrigues’s path.
Victor Osimhen scored a first-half equaliser but wasteful Nigeria were held to a 1-1 draw in their Africa Cup of Nations Group A opener with Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan on Sunday, unable to turn their pressure into three points.
Against the run of play, Iban Salvador netted a surprise opener for Equatorial Guinea with a well-worked goal, but they led for only two minutes before the Napoli forward Osimhen headed Nigeria level.
The Super Eagles side dominated thereafterbut found Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono in fine form as he made several fine saves – aided by some poor finishing.
Nigeria failed to clear the ball and when José Machín teed-up Salvador 18 yards from goal, he side-footed passed a shotcomposed finish into the bottom corner with a clinical finish.
But the lead lasted only two minutes as Nigeria hit back almost immediately. WingerAdemola Lookman hung up a cross from the left to the back post, and leaving the unmarked Osimhen with the simplest of headed finishes to score his 21st international goal.