Salah Leads Egypt Past Ivory Coast to Set Up Senegal Semifinal
Pharaohs end champions’ reign in Agadir thriller
Mohamed Salah scored his fourth goal of the Africa Cup of Nations as Egypt defeated defending champions Ivory Coast 3-2 in Agadir, booking a heavyweight semifinal clash with Senegal on Wednesday.
Egypt, chasing a first AFCON title since 2010, struck early and survived a late scare to end the Elephants’ title defence after five matches. The victory sets up a mouth-watering reunion between Salah and his long-time Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane in Tanger on January 14.
Fast start puts Egypt in control
The Pharaohs made the perfect start, taking the lead in the fourth minute through Omar Marmoush. Hamdy Fathy won possession in midfield and found Emam Ashour, who slipped Marmoush in behind a disorganised Ivory Coast defence. The forward raced past Odilon Kossounou and curled a composed right-footed finish beyond Yahia Fofana.
Ivory Coast struggled to settle and were fortunate not to concede again when Marmoush went down in the box, only for the offside flag to deny Egypt a penalty. Their reprieve was short-lived, however, as Egypt doubled their advantage on 32 minutes.
Salah delivered a dangerous corner from the right, and Rami Rabia rose unchallenged at the back post to head home for 2-0.
Salah strikes again as Ivory Coast rally late
The reigning champions were handed a lifeline just before halftime when Ahmed Abou El Fotouh deflected Yan Diomande’s freekick into his own net, reducing the deficit to one.
Any hope of an Ivorian comeback was dealt a major blow seven minutes into the second half. Ashour produced a superb outside-of-the-boot through ball, and Salah timed his run perfectly, holding off Ghislain Konan before calmly prodding the ball across Fofana and into the net to restore Egypt’s two-goal cushion.
The match became increasingly fractured as Egypt slowed the tempo, but Ivory Coast refused to go quietly. With 17 minutes remaining, Guela Doue produced an instinctive heel-flick from close range after Egypt failed to clear a corner, setting up a tense finale.
Despite late pressure and desperate defending, Egypt held firm to secure a famous victory and keep Salah’s long-standing AFCON ambitions alive.
