Egypt finally and officially in the World Cup

BY

-

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 - 07:55 GMT

BY

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 - 07:55 GMT

Egyptian team celebrating after the first goal – Press image courtesy by Ahmed Maarouf

Egyptian team celebrating after the first goal – Press image courtesy by Ahmed Maarouf

CAIRO – 8 October 2017: The Egyptian national team finally qualified to the 2018 World Cup after beating Congo 2-1 with a goal scored by Mohamed Salah in the second half’s extra time.

The first half of the match between Egypt and Congo, which was played at Borg El-Arab Stadium in the fifth round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, ended with a draw. Egypt needed to win against Congo with any result to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

The national team started the game with an early attack by Ramadan Sobhi and Mohamed Salah. Ramadan dribbled more than once past the guest team’s defenders but to no avail.

The referee gave Egypt a free kick, crossed by Mohamed Salah to Tarek Hamed, who fired off the net.

Despite the Pharaohs’ attack, the Congolese team tried to reach the goal of Essam El Hadari and one of Congo’s players shot from afar, but the ball missed the net.

The Egyptian team continued their attack and Mohamed Salah played a wonderful cross, which Ahmed Hegazi didn’t treat well and shot it in the opponent’s defense. A Congolese counterattack was rebuffed by Ahmed Hegazi.

Over time, the Congolese team started to dare the Pharaohs and succeed in keeping up with the Pharaohs and clearly threatened Essam El Hadari's goal.

Meanwhile, in the second half, the Egyptian strikes finally translated to a goal by Mohamed Salah with a great chip shot over the Congolese goalkeeper in the 63rd minute of the game, but Congo returned to equalize by Arnold Bouka in the 87th minute of the game.

The Egyptian national team didn’t give up and continued with a fierce offense, until the referee gave Egypt a penalty kick after one of the Congolese defenders intercepted Mahmoud Hassan in the penalty area.

Mohamed Salah took the shot and scored his second goal of the game in the 94th minute of the game to book Egypt’s seat in the FIFA World Cup after 28 years of absence.

Comments

0

Leave a Comment

Be Social