The first national football team achieved a moral victory over its Ethiopian counterpart with a clean goal in the match that brought them together this evening at the Air Defense Stadium in the final round of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers in Côte d’Ivoire.
Mustafa Fathi scored the only goal of the match after 37 minutes, after the Ethiopian goalkeeper blocked a shot from Omar Marmoush and sent it into the net.
The national team had reserved the qualification ticket for the 2023 African Cup of Nations after defeating its Guinean counterpart in the last round.
Egypt group standings after the end of its campaign in the African qualifiers
The Egyptian national team raised its score with this victory to 15 points, strengthening its lead in the fourth group by 6 points over its closest rival, Guinea, and remaining in the sixth round match against Malawi, while the Ethiopia national team’s score stopped at point 4, at the bottom of the group.
Events of the match between Egypt and Ethiopia
The match was medium-level, and the Pharaohs team dominated most of the match, and the visitors’ threat began in the fifth minute with a strong shot from outside the penalty area that passed over the goal’s upper crossbar, and after 8 minutes had passed, an attack by the Egyptian team appeared from the right front, which Hamdi Fathi ended with a weak cross into the net. The penalty area reached easily for goalkeeper Sayed Habtamu.
Egypt’s most dangerous attempt was in the 22nd minute after the Pharaohs’ first corner kick to the right of Ethiopia’s goal, executed by Omar Marmoush with a cross into the penalty area, which was received by Mohamed Abdel Moneim with a powerful header that almost went into the net had it not been for goalkeeper Sayed Habtamu’s brilliance in making the save and deflecting the ball into a corner kick.
The national team opened the scoring in the 37th minute after a powerful shot by Omar Marmoush from the edge of the penalty area. Goalkeeper Sayed Habtamu blocked it with difficulty, only to bounce back and receive a follow-up from Mustafa Fathi with a shot that put the ball into the net.
A few minutes later, a goal was disallowed for the Egyptian national team due to a reverse foul against Hamdi Fathi, after he pushed the Ethiopian player while rising to score the goal with a perfect header.
The second half started better than the team, and Mohamed Hani fired a powerful shot, after which another no less powerful shot came from Mustafa Mohamed from the edge of the penalty area. The goalkeeper blocked it with difficulty and sent the ball away for a corner kick.
Vitoria made two substitutions in the ranks of the national team, with Tariq Hamed and Ibrahim Adel replacing the duo Marwan Attia and Omar Marmoush. After approximately ten minutes, the third substitution was made with the exit of Mustafa Fathi and the introduction of Zizou. In the last minutes, Hamdi Fathi was injured and left the field, and Sam Morsi came in his place. Vitoria also subbed. Beftuh instead of Mohamed Hamdi.
The referee canceled another goal scored by Sam Morsi due to a violation on Mostafa Mohamed Ali, the Ethiopian national team defender, in stoppage time of the match. He also awarded a yellow card to Mohamed El-Shenawy, the Egyptian national team goalkeeper, for intentionally wasting time.
