Co-favorites Egypt started the Africa Cup of Nations with a hard-fought 2-1 win against Zimbabwe. The stars from the Premier League shot the favorites to success.
In the Stade Adrar in Agadir, Prince Dube (20th) gave the underdog the lead, Omar Marmoush (64th) and Mo Salah (90th + 1) turned the game in Egypt’s favor.
Fabisch von Aue in Zimbabwe’s starting eleven
Hossam Hassan’s team narrowly avoided embarrassment. The World Cup participants stood with Marmoush from Manchester City and Salah from FC Liverpool two stars from the English Premier League in the starting line-up. For comparison: Jonah Fabisch, a player from the German third division club Erzgebirge Aue, started in Zimbabwe. South Africa won the opening game of Group B 2-1 against Angola.
Egypt is going strong right from the start
Egypt took the initiative from the start. Trézéguet had a great chance to take the lead in the seventh minute, but was denied by goalkeeper Washington Arubi with a header from close range after Salah’s cross.
Five minutes later it was Salah again who pulled a sharp cross into the penalty area, this time Emam Ashour put the ball wide of the goal. Zimbabwe only got into the game a little better after a quarter of an hour.
Prince Dube shocks the favorite
And with the first big chance, the outsider took the lead. After a cross from Emmanuel Jalai from the right, Prince Dube took the ball in a technically demanding manner, turned around his opponent and gave Mohamed El Shenawy no chance in the Egyptian goal.
A little later it was almost 2-0 “The Warriors”. El Shenawy could only have a shot from Daniel Msendami parried away, Washington Navaya narrowly missed the second ball.
The North Africans were visibly impressed by this and lost the plot on the offensive. It was no longer enough to create more than a few half chances. Marmoush had the best with a shot from the second row. The underdogs went into the break 1-0.
Egypt is putting pressure on us
Egypt came out of halftime with a clear goal: they needed to equalize. Once again the “Pharaohs” took command, had more of the game and more possession of the ball. But Mostafa Mohamed, Marmoush and Yasser Ibrahim missed their first chances. Zimbabwe, the team of Romanian coach Mario Marinică, remained stable.
Marmoush and Salah meet
It finally happened in the 64th minute. After a long ball from Mohamed Hamdi, Marmoush ran towards the goal with a lot of speed from the left and when everyone expected a cross pass, he hit the ball hard and humorlessly into the near corner – the deserved equalizer.
The Egyptians stuck with it and literally constricted the opponent in their own half. After just over 70 minutes, Zizo should have taken the lead, but after a cross from Hamdi, he headed the ball over the goal from close range. Shortly afterwards, Salah also missed a good chance. When everyone was already expecting a 1-1 draw, Salah struck in stoppage time.