Mohamed Salah has stirred doubts about his Egyptian national team future following their failure to qualify for the 2022 Soccer World Cup. Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
LIVE | AFCON quarter-final: Egypt v Morocco – 30 January 2022
Are you ready for Sunday’s blockbuster Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final between Egypt and Morocco?
Mohamed Salah has stirred doubts about his Egyptian national team future following their failure to qualify for the 2022 Soccer World Cup. Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
Egypt have struggled to bury their chances so far in the tournament, though they’ve proven to be good at squeezing out results winning two group games by a 1-0 scoreline to qualify for the playoff stage.
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The Pharaohs then progressed to this quarter-final thanks to their solid defence and a successful penalty shootout following a goalless stalemate with Ivory Coast.
Considering Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) games have averaged a mere 0.75 goals per match, Egypt may well find themselves in another penalty duel.
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However, reassuringly for them is the fact they’ve won each of their last five penalty shootouts in AFCON tournaments.
Though Morocco are the second-highest CAF nation in FIFA’s current rankings, this will be a stern challenge for them.
They also need to defy history, having progressed beyond the quarter-finals in just one of their last 11 AFCON appearances, with both quarter-final defeats during that time seeing a single-goal margin.
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This time around, Morocco had to come from behind to win their Round of 16 clash against Malawi – a second successive game where the Atlas Lions needed to claw back a deficit to avoid defeat.
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EGYPT V MOROCCO
Players to watch
Mohamed Salah was in the Egypt side that knocked Morocco out in 2017, and it was his nerves of steel that eventually won the day in their penalty shootout last time out. For Morocco, Achraf Hakimi has scored decisive goals in their last two AFCON matches, including a stunning free kick in the Round of 16.
Hot stat
With three yellow cards and no reds, Egypt are the best disciplined side at this AFCON tournament.
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