Egypt loses Salah, Nigeria takes on Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea can believe it… What to remember from Thursday’s matches

After Equatorial Guinea’s victory against Guinea-Bissau, the host country lost to Nigeria on Thursday. For its part, Egypt lost its star, Mohamed Salah, but preserved the essentials by conceding a draw against Ghana.

It’s go again. The second day of the CAN group stage began, Thursday January 18, with the two matches in Group A. A group now dominated by the surprising Equatorial Guinea, winner of Guinea-Bissau at the start of the afternoon ( 4-2), since Ivory Coast was dominated by Nigeria (0-1), while it could validate its qualification for the round of 16. In the evening, Egypt and Ghana shared a draw after a tense meeting (2-2), during which Mohamed Salah was injured.

Egypt loses Salah but avoids shipwreck

If his absence is confirmed, it would be a real bolt from the blue for Egypt. At the start of added time in the first period, Mohamed Salah sat on the pitch, complaining about the back of his left thigh. Before giving up his armband and his place, not without a hint of resignation displayed. Without the Liverpool winger, still in search of his first CAN, the Egyptian favorite would lose his guide for the rest of the competition.

But he could have lost even more against Ghana this Thursday. Held in check by Mozambique four days ago, the finalist of the last edition managed to come back twice thanks to Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed. The two scorers took advantage of individual errors from the Black Stars defense to respond to Mohammed Kudus’ double and preserve the essentials. With this draw point, Egypt remains provisionally second and will have to beat Cape Verde to reach the round of 16.

Nigeria freezes Ivory Coast in shock

The flight of the Super Eagles. Forced to react after its inaugural draw against Equatorial Guinea (1-1), Nigeria did not tremble against the Ivorian hosts, although they were largely supported by the public at the Alassane Ouattara stadium in Ebimpé. In a game where there were not many clear chances, the only goal came from the Nigerian captain William Troost-Ekong on a penalty scratched by local superstar, Victor Osimhen.

A result which may seem fortunate insofar as it was the only attempt on target by José Peseiro’s men. With this defeat at home, Côte d’Ivoire slips to third place in its group and finds itself in the obligation to beat the Equatoguineans on the last day, in order to avoid some cold sweats.

Equatorial Guinea carried by Emilio Nsue’s hat-trick

The Guinea duel for the Nzalang Nacional. Against Guinea-Bissau, the Equatoguineans relied on their striker Emilio Nsue to win. Full of composure on the opening score, the player from Intercity (3rd Spanish division), gave his team a break in the lead by scoring the 3-1 goal with a volley after receiving a center back post, before scoring the first hat-trick in the competition in 15 years by dribbling past the goalkeeper. An XXL performance which also allows him to become, at 34 years and 110 days, the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a CAN.

If the Bissaoguineans could have hoped for better, like a penalty whistled then surprisingly canceled by the referee when they had just got back to 1-1, Equatorial Guinea confirmed after its draw against Nigeria and now counts four points in Pool A. A total which should be enough to finish, at least, in the best third and thus see the elimination phase, as in the three other CAN contested by the selection.