AFCON: Ghana draw Egypt despite leading twice

Ghana threw away their chances of victory against Egypt at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Thursday and went home with a 2-2 draw, despite leading their North African counterparts twice.

Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus had struck the opener in the first-round from 20 metres giving them the lead in the Group B encounter at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium.

Egypt’s trouble started early in the first half when they lost their captain and talisman, Mohamed Salah, to injury in the first half.

Salah had slumped as Ghana launched a counterattack, clutching the back of his left leg and eventually was forced out of the match.

Shortly after, Ghana struck, latching on to the vacuum created by Salah’s sudden exit.

Egypt’s Omar Marmoush, however, pounced on a blunder by Ghana’s defenders to equalize midway into the second half.

Williams had made an erroneous backpass that was pounced upon by Marmoush who got last man Ofori out of the way and drove home the first equalizer.

Ghana quickly restored their lead through Kudus’ second strike but Mostafa Mohamed leveled the score for Egypt at the 74th minute with the match ending two goals apiece.

The West Africans had gone front again after barely two minutes courtesy of Denis Odoi’s pass in the opponents’ half, beating Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy.

Mahmoud Trezequet had assisted Mohamed who fired in the fourth goal of the match and the second for Egypt.

Ghana, in the meantime, has yet to remedy their deplorable outing at AFCON where they have won only one of last eleven matches.

The team was stunned in its first game by Cape Verde with a 2-1 defeat.

The two teams faced each other in their opening match of Group B on Sunday, January 14, 2024.

Cape Verde won the match thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Garry Rodrigues.

The result, no doubt, shocked Ghana, a four-time AFCON champion, as Cape Verde is a relatively small nation with less footballing pedigree.

Ghana needed a desperate win against Egypt in the next match but failed to seize the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Cape Verde will hope to maintain their momentum against Mozambique on Friday.

In the late Thursday encounter, Kudus gave Ghana the needed alignment but Egypt dashed the hope and went home with two points from two matches.

Ashour attempt to grab victory for Egypt failed as Ofori saved the day, sparing Ghana from another devastating defeat and keeping their hope for the knockout phase alive.

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook