A controversial penalty from Mohamed Salah secured top spot for Egypt in Group B of the Africa Cup of Nations against South Africa.
Salah’s nerveless 45th-minute effort from the spot came after South Africa’s Khuliso Mudau was punished for raising an arm to the Liverpool forward’s face — following a lengthy VAR review.
Egypt had to contend with going a man down at the end of that chaotic first half when right-back Mohamed Hany was shown a second yellow card for stamping on Teboho Mokoena in stoppage time before the break.
Hossam Hassan’s team survived a late VAR check after Yasser Ibrahim blocked a Mokoena shot with his hand after the 90th minute. Replays did not appear to show a conclusive angle of whether that occurred inside or outside the penalty box, although the rules of the game state that a handball offence cannot be given if the ball hits a player’s supporting arm.
It meant Egypt continued their successful start to this tournament in Morocco — and kept Salah’s hopes of a first AFCON triumph very much alive.
Nick Miller and Ahmed Walid analyse the key talking points from an intriguing match in Agadir that went past 101 minutes.
How on earth was that a penalty?
Until the 39th minute, you could file this game under ‘not a classic’. Then, all hell broke loose.
First, the penalty. There seemed to be only two people watching who thought Mudau had actually committed an offence worthy of being penalised when his flailing hand touched Salah’s forehead. Unfortunately for South Africa, those two were the VAR and the on-pitch referee Pacifique Ndabihawenimana.
It was precisely 38 minutes and 38 seconds when Madau’s hand made contact with Salah. The Egypt captain went down, as if Madau had “poked his eye out”, according to former South Africa forward Benni McCarthy in the Channel 4 studio. But aside from slightly hamming things up by occasionally checking said eye, Salah did not appeal for the penalty with any gusto.
The incident in question (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Mohamed Salah falls following the hand to the face (Claro Sports/X)
There followed some lengthy arguments on the field, and it was not until the clock ticked into the 42nd minute that Ndabihawenimana was sent over to the VAR monitor. There he stood for 14 seconds while the screen was frozen, standing there like a man with questionable WiFi waiting for Netflix to load: not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things, but long enough to add to the general sense of farce.
The consensus seemed to be confusion as to why the incident was being scrutinised, never mind actually awarding the penalty. Former Arsenal and Cameroon defender Lauren, also in the Channel 4 studio, pointed out that Madau did not once look around and that he was simply using his arm to aid his running motion.
“If you see a defender look first, then hit the opponent, then you would say it’s a penalty,” said Lauren. “In this case, he was looking at the ball.”
But after nearly a minute of deliberation, Ndabihawenimana pointed to the spot. There followed more arguments, jostling and prevarication, before Salah eventually stroked home the penalty insouciantly. From the moment Madau’s hand struck Salah to the moment the ball went into the net, six minutes and 14 seconds had elapsed. From the time taken to the decision itself, it was a farce.
Still, advantage Egypt. And yet, a couple of minutes later, with the safety of half-time looming, an act of self-sabotage threw that away, when Hany — already on a yellow card — launched his studs into Mokoena’s foot. He was given a second booking and was sent off.
Mohamed Hany’s second yellow card offence (Movistar/X)
It was a brainless act, but along with the equally illogical penalty award, it spiced up a hitherto pedestrian game.
Nick Miller
Has Salah lived up to his billing so far?
Despite scoring the winner in Egypt’s first game against Zimbabwe, Salah’s performance in that match was mixed — excelling in the first 45 minutes, before his level dropped in the second half.
Against South Africa, Egypt’s switch to a back three meant Salah had fewer runners to find in the final third. But it was the Liverpool forward who won his country the penalty through which they secured the three points, chipping it elegantly down the middle as South Africa’s Ronwen Williams dived to his left.
Hany’s dismissal forced Egypt to drop deeper in the second half, only threatening on the transitions, with Salah central to the few counter-attacks they had.
It is hard to judge Salah’s performance in this game, considering Egypt’s lack of attacking solutions in the first half and Hany’s red card, but his presence as an outlet in the second half gave his team-mates a breather and limited the time spent under pressure. He was eventually withdrawn for Osama Faisal in the 89th minute.
Ultimately, it is Salah’s goals that have put Egypt into the knockouts. Since making his tournament debut at AFCON 2017, no player has scored more than Salah’s nine goals — and he is now four efforts off his coach Hassan’s 69-goal scoring record for Egypt.
It is hard to argue with those kinds of numbers, even if we have still not seen the best of him at this edition.
Ahmed Walid
Did South Africa waste their big chance?
It is not just that South Africa had 45 minutes against 10 men to make an impact and find an equaliser that was so discouraging for them. Arguably, it was that they also had the 15 minutes before that to plan how they were going to approach so much of the game with a man advantage.
That should have been ample time to come up with something, but in the early stages of the second half, it was Egypt who looked more likely to extend their lead, rather than lose it. It took until the 70th minute for South Africa coach Hugo Broos to change their shape, bringing on winger Relebohile Mofokeng, and another five before introducing another forward.
Egypt defended brilliantly, and they were perhaps unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty for handball: the referee had given a free kick on the edge of the penalty area when the ball struck Yasser Ibrahim’s arm as he dived to block a shot. However, replays seemed to suggest that the defender was inside the penalty area, and Ndabihawenimana was sent to the VAR monitor to review the decision.
From that point, it felt like a penalty would be given, even though there was no conclusive angle, but not only did he choose not to point to the spot, he reversed the decision entirely. Which suggests that he ultimately decided it wasn’t a handball and Ibrahim had touched the ball with his hand in a natural action, rather than deliberately. Broos was livid, but it wasn’t the referee’s fault that his team couldn’t find an equaliser.
Nick Miller
Where does this leave the group?
Angola’s 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe earlier in the day meant that the winner from this game would top the group due to the sides’ head-to-head record.
Despite that, these teams played out a cautious first half, with Hassan’s switch to a 5-3-2 limiting any adventure from either Egypt or South Africa. Only Salah’s penalty separated the sides by the end, and Egypt put their bodies on the line to maintain their 1-0 lead.
Egypt’s victory guarantees them top spot in the group. Meanwhile, South Africa need a win or a draw to secure second place after beating Angola 2-1 in the first round.
As for Angola and Zimbabwe, they took a big hit by drawing with each other. Since the competition’s format changed in 2019 so that the best third-placed teams in the group can qualify, nobody has progressed to the knockout stages with two points. That means they both need to win their final group game on Monday, with Angola facing Egypt and Zimbabwe playing South Africa.
Ahmed Walid