Ghana and Egypt play out thrilling draw

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast

Ghana and Egypt played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group B clash at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on Thursday night.

The Black Stars twice led via star attacker Mohammed Kudus, but the Pharaohs hit back through Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed to salvage a share of the points.

The result leaves Ghana still at the bottom of the group on one point, while Egypt climbs to second on two points.

Group B rivals Cape Verde (first place on three points) and Mozambique (third place on one point) will meet at the same venue on Friday afternoon.

The first half saw Egypt enjoy more of the possession, though Ghana seemed to have more penetration and pace when given the chance to attack.

The teams mostly cancelled each other out, with the key events arriving in injury time before the interval.

First, Mohamed Salah limped off with an injury to be replaced by Mostafa Fathi.

And just a few seconds after the exit of the Pharaohs’ talisman, the Black Stars claimed the lead via a brilliant strike from Kudus.

The West Ham United attacker battled his way into space just outside the penalty area and cracked home a left-footed drive to see his team 1-0 up at halftime.

Egypt thought they had scored an equaliser six minutes into the second half when Mohamed Abdelmonem netted from close range, but an offside in the build-up ruled out his effort, and just before the hour mark Omar Marmoush forced Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori into a sharp save with a drive from the right of the penalty area.

The Pharaohs finally found their way back into the game on 69 minutes, with Marmoush latching onto a poor back-pass from Inaki Williams, rounding the ‘keeper and coolly finishing from a tight angle for 1-1.

However, Ghana reclaimed the lead just two minutes later: Kudus tried a curling shot from the right side of the penalty area which deflected off Abdelmonem and found its way past the right hand of El Shenawy for 2-1.

The drama heightened even further on 74 minutes when Egypt struck again for 2-2.

Osman Bukari was dispossessed by Mahmoud Trezeguet, who provided a pull-back from the left by-line to find Mostafa Mohamed, and he duly stabbed a low shot between the legs of Ofori to level the game.

Both sides put in efforts to try and claim all three points in the final quarter hour of the regulation 90, plus a significant chunk of injury time, but no further goals were forthcoming.

The teams will return to Group B action on Monday 22 January, with Ghana facing Mozambique at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium and Egypt tackling Cape Verde at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium.

Egypt: El Shenawy, Kamal, Hegazy, Abdelmonem, Hamdi, H. Fathi, Elneny (Trezeguet 68’), Ashour, Marmoush (Ateya 90’), Salah (M. Fathi 45+2’), Mohamed

Ghana: Ofori, Odoi, Djiku, Salisu, Mensah, Ashimeru (Iddrisu 62’), Abdul Samed (Paintsil 89’), Semenyo, J. Ayew, Kudus, Williams (Bukari 73’ [Owusu 89’])