Egypt kick Ivory Coast out of AFCON, progress to semi-final

Ivory Coast’s defence of their AFCON title has ended following a 3-2 defeat to Egypt in the quarter-final on Saturday.

The Elephants were undone by two early goals they could not recover from despite the champions’ valiant efforts in the five-goal thriller.

Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia handed the Pharaohs a two-goal lead that was restored by Mohamed Salah after an own goal reduced the deficit before halftime. Guela Doue’s made it a tense finale at the Stade Adrar Arena, Agadir.

Marmoush latched on to a through ball to finish low into the far post on four minutes, handing Egypt the lead with his second AFCON ’25 goal, and Rabia’s towering header from Salah’s corner kick doubled the advantage on 32 minutes.

Ahmed Fatouh inadvertently diverted into his own net to hand Ivory Coast a lifeline going into the break, but Salah restored the two-goal lead on 52 minutes when finished with aplomb when let loose by Emam Ashour’s pass.

An Ivory Coast free kick routine was saved on the line by goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy but Doue tucked in the rebound on 73 minutes to reduce the deficit again, but the champions could not restore parity or force extra-time and Egypt saw out the match to reach their first semi-final since 2010.

Hossam Hassan’s Egypt will meet Senegal, 2021 AFCON champions, on Wednesday, January 14.

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