Aston Villa forward Trezeguet’s extra-time goal sent Egypt through to the AFCON semi-finals, with his winner earning a 2-1 victory over Morocco.
Egypt and Morocco met in the last-16 with Premier League superstar Mo Salah appearing to give his side the edge, but it was Soufiane Boufal – once a player for Southampton – who scored first when Achraf Hakimi was felled in the box by Ayman Ashraf after three minutes.
It took several minutes for the referee to review VAR and then for the penalty to go ahead, but once in the lead they were untroubled in the first half by an Egyptian XI who struggled to break down Morocco’s defence, despite the expertise of manager Carlos Queiroz.
In the second half, Salah grabbed an equaliser from a defensive scramble in the box following a corner, but neither side could find a winner within regulation time.
Salah was at the heart of Egypt’s winner when he feinted past his marker down the wing before teeing up Trezeguet for a goal on 100 minutes, taking the seven-time winners into the semis.
Egypt struggled to impose themselves in the first half and had Salah to thank for their progress. Without him they had no creativity and were reduced to taking punts from distance.Against Morocco their striker proved good enough to help them advance, but Cameroon will have the focus of a team that is backed and under pressure from their own crowd. They will not lose focus as Morocco did – they will hope.If they fail to pull themselves together then they could find an eighth AFCON win beyond them.
Source:www.eurosport.com/
