Saturday, January 28, 2006
Motaeb double fires Egypt past Ivory Coast.
CAIRO (AFP) - A double by Imad Motaeb inspired hosts Egypt to a 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast and saw them top African Nations Cup Group A.
Mohammed Terika got the other goal for the four-time winners after Arouna Kone had levelled for the Elephants shortly before half-time in a pulsating match that saw the best performances by the two sides so far.
However the match billed as a duel between Premiership hotshots Mido and Didier Drogba failed to materialize as the former went off injured and the latter was dropped to the bench.
Egyptian assistant coach Shawky Gharib said he was proud of his team.
"I take my hat off to them. They played superbly. This match was worthy of the final and not the first round."
Ivory Coast coach Henri Michel rang the changes with eight new starters from the side that beat Libya 2-1, but Saturday's defeat means they will likely meet Cameroon in the quarter-finals.
Michel, though, explained his reasoning.
"We had three players on yellow cards so I didn't want to risk them," said the 57-year-old Frenchman.
"Maybe in a week's time (the quarter-finals) we will be happy we blooded these players and left out the others for security sake."
While disappointed with the result, the former France coach took heart from some of the match.
"I thought we played really well in the first-half but the change of goalkeeper (Jean-Jaques Tizie went off injured and was replaced by Boubacar Barry early in the second-half) had an effect.
"Now we have to probably face Cameroon but so be it. One has to face strong teams at the knockout stage."
It took the hosts just nine minutes to breach the Ivory Coast defence as Motaeb headed into an empty net, connecting with Abdel Zaher El Saka's header across goal.
The Elephants were really under the cosh and were fortunate that Jean-Jacques Tizie pulled off a good save a couple of minutes later from Terika.
Terika then went close again in the 15th minute rounding off a brilliant move with Mido.
Terika passed to Mido down the left and ran 40 metres into the box but his header just went over the bar.
A minute later he again outjumped the Ivorian defence but again his header went over the bar.
Ivory Coast had to wait till the 20th minute for a shot but it went high and wide from Christian Koffi. He made amends a minute later as an acrobatic volley crept the wrong side of the post.
Mido left the action shortly afterwards clutching his groin and was replaced by Egyptian icon Hossam Hasan, who took the captain's armband off Ahmed Hasan.
"I felt pain in my groin on Friday," said Mido. "It was alright today (Saturday) but I still felt it when I started playing. Hopefully it is not too serious."
This did not seem to stop the Egyptian rhythm as another beautifully worked move down the right saw a one-two between Moammed Berekat and Ahmed Hasan, with the former's shot just being saved by Tizie.
Egyptian 'keeper Essam El Hadary was forced to turn away Emerse Fae's drive and from the resulting corner Mohammed Abdel Wahab headed Gnegneri Toure's header off the line.
The lively Kone then broke free and unleashed a fierce shot in the 35th minute which El Hadary did well to turn around the post for a corner.
The 22-year-old PSV Eindhoven striker, though, got his and the team's deserved reward in the 43rd minute as he turned and shot from outside the area and it whistled into the net after taking a deflection off Ibrahim Said.
However joy turned to despair just after the hour mark as having had to take off the injured Tizie, his replacement Boubacar Barry's first touch was to pick the ball out of the net as Terika shot into the far corner after being set up by Hasan's delicate chip.
Egypt wrapped it up 10 minutes later after Barry did well to tip a Motaeb chip on to the bar but the ball rebounded to 39-year-old Hasan, who somehow managed to miss with his header but fortunately the dynamic 22-year-old Motaeb was there having picked himself off the ground to shoot home.
Mohammed Terika got the other goal for the four-time winners after Arouna Kone had levelled for the Elephants shortly before half-time in a pulsating match that saw the best performances by the two sides so far.
However the match billed as a duel between Premiership hotshots Mido and Didier Drogba failed to materialize as the former went off injured and the latter was dropped to the bench.
Egyptian assistant coach Shawky Gharib said he was proud of his team.
"I take my hat off to them. They played superbly. This match was worthy of the final and not the first round."
Ivory Coast coach Henri Michel rang the changes with eight new starters from the side that beat Libya 2-1, but Saturday's defeat means they will likely meet Cameroon in the quarter-finals.
Michel, though, explained his reasoning.
"We had three players on yellow cards so I didn't want to risk them," said the 57-year-old Frenchman.
"Maybe in a week's time (the quarter-finals) we will be happy we blooded these players and left out the others for security sake."
While disappointed with the result, the former France coach took heart from some of the match.
"I thought we played really well in the first-half but the change of goalkeeper (Jean-Jaques Tizie went off injured and was replaced by Boubacar Barry early in the second-half) had an effect.
"Now we have to probably face Cameroon but so be it. One has to face strong teams at the knockout stage."
It took the hosts just nine minutes to breach the Ivory Coast defence as Motaeb headed into an empty net, connecting with Abdel Zaher El Saka's header across goal.
The Elephants were really under the cosh and were fortunate that Jean-Jacques Tizie pulled off a good save a couple of minutes later from Terika.
Terika then went close again in the 15th minute rounding off a brilliant move with Mido.
Terika passed to Mido down the left and ran 40 metres into the box but his header just went over the bar.
A minute later he again outjumped the Ivorian defence but again his header went over the bar.
Ivory Coast had to wait till the 20th minute for a shot but it went high and wide from Christian Koffi. He made amends a minute later as an acrobatic volley crept the wrong side of the post.
Mido left the action shortly afterwards clutching his groin and was replaced by Egyptian icon Hossam Hasan, who took the captain's armband off Ahmed Hasan.
"I felt pain in my groin on Friday," said Mido. "It was alright today (Saturday) but I still felt it when I started playing. Hopefully it is not too serious."
This did not seem to stop the Egyptian rhythm as another beautifully worked move down the right saw a one-two between Moammed Berekat and Ahmed Hasan, with the former's shot just being saved by Tizie.
Egyptian 'keeper Essam El Hadary was forced to turn away Emerse Fae's drive and from the resulting corner Mohammed Abdel Wahab headed Gnegneri Toure's header off the line.
The lively Kone then broke free and unleashed a fierce shot in the 35th minute which El Hadary did well to turn around the post for a corner.
The 22-year-old PSV Eindhoven striker, though, got his and the team's deserved reward in the 43rd minute as he turned and shot from outside the area and it whistled into the net after taking a deflection off Ibrahim Said.
However joy turned to despair just after the hour mark as having had to take off the injured Tizie, his replacement Boubacar Barry's first touch was to pick the ball out of the net as Terika shot into the far corner after being set up by Hasan's delicate chip.
Egypt wrapped it up 10 minutes later after Barry did well to tip a Motaeb chip on to the bar but the ball rebounded to 39-year-old Hasan, who somehow managed to miss with his header but fortunately the dynamic 22-year-old Motaeb was there having picked himself off the ground to shoot home.
