Egypt beat Morocco 1-0 in Port-Gentil to reach the semi-finals of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
The dramatic 89th minute winner ended Pharaohs 30 years wait to secure first win aganist North African rivals.
Mahmoud ‘Kahraba’ Abdel-Moneim was the hero after coming on as a substitute,setting up a clash with Burkina Faso in the last four on Wednesday.
It is a dream not far from becoming a reality for coach Herve Renard who is looking to win three back to back Africa Cup of Nations titles,having won two previous tournaments with Zambia and Ivory Coast.
And his boys potrayed signs of fulfilling his desire when they created the first chance on 15th minute. Pacy winger Ahmed Elmohamady had his cross from the left landing on Mahmoud ‘Trezeguet’ Hassan, who perfectly unleashed a screamer near the post but goalkeeper Munir Mohand seemed not disturbed easily collecting it to the dissapointment of Egypt fans.
It took more than half an hour before another lively chance was created by both sides.Morocco at this time were about to open the scoring courtsey of Romain Saïss but his header went a couple of few centimetres over the bar.
Egypt had to pull out Marwan Mohsen after his injury resurfaced.Earlier on officials had declared him unfit for todays game but it seemed they ignored the seriousness of the injury and fielded him.His place was taken by Ahmed ‘Koka’ Hassan two minutes before the end of the first half.
Morocco started the second half on some positives with Nabil Dirar seeming to become the man of the momemnt but his effort rattled the crossbar.
Three minutes later, the Atlas Lions landed another open chance but oustanding 44 year old El Hadary made a wonderful save to deny Dirar in the 77th minute from a free kick.
Egypt finally pulled a suprise in the 89th minute when Mahmoud ‘Kahraba’ Abdel-Moneim prodded a loose ball home to book Pharaohs date with Burkina Faso in the semi-finals.
Line-ups:
Egypt: El Hadary, Gabr, Elmohamady, Hegazy, Fathi, Hafez, Hamed, El Said, Trezeguet, Salah, Mohsen
Morocco: El Kajoui, Mendyl, Da Costa, Benatia, Saiss, Dirar, El Ahmadi, Fajr, Boussoufa, En-Nesyri, Bouhaddouz
