NOS Football•
Egypt has reached the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations for the first time since 2010. Captain Mohamed Salah’s team was too strong for courageous Benin after extra time in Agadir with a 3-1 score.
The Pharaohs will now play on Saturday, January 10, against the winner of the round of 16 between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Two quarter-finals have already been announced at the Africa Cup: Morocco-Cameroon and Mali-Senegal
The match in Agadir, Moroccan, only came to life after the break. Rami Rabia seemed to open the scoring for Egypt from a corner from close range, but the quickly emerging goalkeeper Marcel Souke Dandjinou made a nice save for Benin.
Wonderful 1-0 Egypt
Even better was the Egyptian opening goal by Marwan Attia, who shot the ball into the top corner from about eighteen meters after 69 minutes.
However, World Cup participant Egypt was not yet finished with Benin, number 92 in the FIFA rankings.
Jodel Dossou first encountered the Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy during an attempt, but in the 83rd minute the attacker from the French Pays du Valois (fifth level) scored.
Keeper El Shenawy was unlucky when a cross was deflected when the goal was scored, so he had to make a great effort to save the ball. Doussou was then able to simply tap into an empty goal.
Egypt had the initiative in extra time, but the seven-time African Cup winner had to remain careful of an outbreak by Benin.
A well-placed header from Yasser Ibrahim, after a measured cross from Attia, gave Egypt the lead again in the first half of extra time.
Benin could no longer manage to stage a new comeback. Salah even made it 3-1 for Egypt from a counter just before the final whistle.
African Cup of 16 finals
| Mali – Tunisia | 1-1 (Mali wns) |
| Senegal – Sudan | 3-1 |
| Egypte – Benin | 3-1 (nv) |
| Ivory Coast – Burkina Faso | Tuesday |
| Cameroon – South Africa | 2-1 |
| Markko – Tanzania | 1-0 |
| Algeria – DR Congo | Tuesday |
| Nigeria – Mozambique | Monday |
