The injured Mohamed Salah watched from the stands as Egypt performed out a loopy 2-2 draw with Cape Verde on the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday, a 3rd successive impasse that was sufficient to seal a spot within the final 16.
Cape Verde had already secured prime spot in Group B and had been on target to make it three wins from as many video games when Gilson Tavares Benchimol put them forward simply earlier than half-time on the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan.
However substitute Mahmoud Trezeguet equalized 5 minutes after the restart and Mostafa Mohamed scored an excellent injury-time objective for Egypt, which was confirmed after a VAR verify dominated out a handball.
It was not the winner, as Bryan Teixeira scored Cape Verde's second objective 9 minutes into additional time.
However by that stage the opposite Group B match had ended, and Ghana's 2-2 draw towards Mozambique allowed Egypt to complete second with simply three factors.
“An important factor is that we’ve got certified, we’re by means of to the following spherical. Now we’ll relaxation as a result of it was highly regarded and humid,” mentioned Egypt coach Rui Vitoria.
“We are going to put together, wait to see who our subsequent opponents are, and enter a brand new part of the competitors.”
Egypt, the file seven-time African champions who haven’t gained the title since 2010, journey to San-Pedro for a last-16 tie on Sunday.
Nevertheless, Salah will miss that match and there are doubts whether or not the Egypt captain might be seen once more in Ivory Coast.
Salah hesitates
The Egyptian Soccer Affiliation introduced on Sunday that he would return to Liverpool after this match to proceed remedy for the hamstring damage he suffered within the 2-2 draw towards Ghana final Thursday.
They mentioned he would return to the squad for the semi-finals if Egypt made it that far, however the participant's agent forged doubt on that risk on Monday.
“Mohamed's damage is extra severe than initially thought and he might be out for 21 to twenty-eight days, not two video games,” Ramy Abbas Issa wrote on X.
“Mohamed Salah has an damage which we discovered earlier than this match was an extended lasting damage than we initially thought,” Vitoria confirmed.
“Now that this sport is over, we’ll discover the most effective resolution for the participant's remedy.”
Egypt's probabilities of progressing from their group appeared bleak when Cape Verde went in entrance simply earlier than half-time when Ryan Mendes nodded the ball down for Benfica B crew striker Benchimol to regulate, flip and shoot.
Trabzonspor winger Trezeguet got here on as a part of a double substitution early within the second half as Egypt chased the match, simply as that they had carried out of their two earlier group matches.
He wanted simply 5 minutes to search out the equalizer, successful possession after a nook and exchanging passes with Ahmed Hegazy earlier than beating the goalkeeper from a troublesome angle.
Mohamed then appeared to have gained the victory three minutes into stoppage time when he managed Trezeguet's lengthy ball ahead and beat Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha with an excellent lob.
The referee needed to verify the VAR monitor to ensure he had not managed the ball along with his arm and that the objective had been awarded.
Nevertheless, Teixeira then drove in to make it 2–2 as Cape Verde completed the group unbeaten earlier than switching their focus to a last-16 attract Abidjan on 29 January.
