Egypt beat Ivory Coast on penalties to go through to the last 8

In what was a neck-to-neck battle in the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations in Douala which had two of the tournament favourites Egypt and Ivory Coast, the Pharaohs managed to beat the Ivorians in a game which was decided by a penalty shootout. The match ended as a 0-0 draw after which the fans got to witness a tight penalty shootout. Mohammad Salah scored the decisive penalty of the game as Ivory Coast’s Eric Bailly missed his team’s last spot kick. The Liverpool star will now go on to captain his side against Morocco in the quarter-finals in Yaounde on Sunday.

The last 16 tie took place in the Japoma Stadium which is the economic capital of Cameroon. The pitch conditions were, however, pretty poor with respect to the standard of the tournament. The intense match-up saw Egypt not being able to convert the chances they were creating and some resolute defending by Man United’s central defender Eric Bailly who was also considered as the man of the match during the game. Unfortunately, the stars were not in his favour as he was not able to score his penalty kick later in the shootout.

Egypt coach Carlos Quieroz was delighted on seeing his side go through to the next round and also gave his thoughts on the game by saying “Considering the number of opportunities we had in the game, we deserved to win.” The Portuguese coach has been under some pressure as his side is not playing convincingly enough according to many. But the Portuguese will not put much thought into these comments as he has ample amount of experience in handling pressure. “It is part of the package. Professional players and coaches can’t live without pressure. It is a source of inspiration” he said.

Mohammad Salah would be raring to in the game against Morocco as well as he expressed his intentions of winning the trophy this year. The last time Egypt laid their hands on the title was back in 2010 which is why Salah would want nothing less than adding an eighth AFCON trophy for the Egypt national team.