Mohamed Elneny’s Egypt made it through to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations in dramatic circumstances after claiming a late 2-2 draw against Cape Verde.
Our man remained on the bench though during the game in Abidjan, but after conceding an equaliser in the 98th minute it looked as though Egypt would finish third in the group and potentially miss out on the last-16.
However, in the other group game Mozambique netted twice in injury time against Ghana, which saw the Black Stars drop the two points needed to climb above the Pharaohs and allow Egypt to secure a game against the second-placed finisher in Group F on Sunday.
Having started their previous draws against Mozambique and Ghana, Mo was dropped to the bench while his team were also without the services of the injured Mohamed Salah. With all that experience missing, the Pharaohs found themselves a goal behind at the break after Benchimol opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time with Cape Verde’s first shot of the game.
However former Aston Villa man Trezeguet levelled the scores on 50 minutes, and then two minutes after the 90 had elapsed Mostafa Mohamed dinked the ball over the goalkeeper to put Egypt in front.
But Teixeira squeezed in an equaliser five minutes later which looked to have cost Egypt dearly, but elsewhere in the Ivory Coast Ghana had conceded twice late on to squander their chance of progression and give Mo’s team a lifeline.
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