It wasn't pretty, it wasn't easy, it wasn't smooth and it wasn't entertaining. But the Egyptian national football team managed to collect maximum points from its crucial clash with group favourites Ghana after winning 2-0 on Sunday night thanks to goals from usual heroes Mohamed Salah of Italian side Roma and Ahly star Abdullah Al-Said in front of more than 80,000 spectators at the Egyptian Army Stadium in Borg El Arab in Alexandria. Egypt's first goal came from the penalty spot after Black Stars defender Harrison Afful brought down Mohamed Trezeguet two minutes before the break. Roma's in-form winger Salah struck his spot-kick firmly into the middle of the goal to put his side ahead. Al-Said then scored on the counter attack with five minutes to go to ensure the victory as Egypt bids for a first World Cup spot since 1990. As such, Egypt desperately wants to go to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The win was sweet revenge after Ghana had thrashed Egypt 7-3 on aggregate for a place in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Pharaohs head coach Hector Cuper started Sunday's game with the evergreen 43-year-old Essam Al-Hadari in goal, the superb Ahmed Fathi as right back, Ahmed Hegazi and Ali Gabr as the two centre backs and Mohamed Abdel-Shafi as left back. Tarek Hamed and Mohamed Al-Nenni played in front of the back four and behind the deadly trio of Salah, Al-Said and Trezeguet with Bassem Morsi up front. The starting line-up was the best Cuper could pick for the game given that key players like Kouka, Kahraba, Mustafa Fathi and Rami Rabea were all ruled out through injury. The Portuguese-based Kouka was forced to leave the team's camp a day before the match. So, Cuper opted to start with Ramadan Sobhi on the bench knowing that someone like him could play a decisive role coming off the bench. Ahmed Fathi was preferred over Omar Gaber who is not playing regularly for Basel now and did not have one of his best games against Congo while Fathi justified Cuper's decision big time as he was one of the best players on the pitch thanks to his undisputed dedication and commitment. Fathi had a very hard task going into the game as he had to stop the brilliant Christian Atsu who can dribble extremely well and has electrifying speed that caused Egypt plenty of problems at the start of the game. However, once Fathi recognised the abilities of Atsu he was up for the task and barely gave him the chance to threaten Al-Hadari apart from one shot from a tight angle in the second half. On the other side Abdel-Shafi had to work as hard as it gets to deal with Jordan Ayew who was a nuisance throughout the game and came close to scoring with a shot from the edge of the box in the first half but thankfully just missed the target. Jordan's brother Andre Ayew who's the undoubted star of the team, was somehow was well below his best given that he had just returned from a long-term injury two weeks ago and is yet to play a full game for his team West Ham since. If Andre Ayew was at his best physical condition he would have caused all sorts of problems for Egypt's defence but luckily he wasn't even close. On the other hand, the Ghanaian side did their best in stopping Salah as he barely touched the ball and always had two players glued to him whenever he received the ball. However, the brilliant Trezeguet who had his best international game in a long time, managed to win the penalty kick in some style after a phenomenal run saw him deceive two players to give the second player no option but to foul him from behind to give the referee an easy decision. While everyone expected Al-Said to step up and take the spot kick, it was Salah who took responsibility and the Roma star made no mistake as he slotted the ball home in confident fashion to give the national side the lead two minutes before the half. The timing of the goal was perfect in many aspects as it came when Ghana was playing much better than Egypt in addition to coming exactly before half time to boost the morale of its players and give Cuper the chance to change players and tactics at half time, which indeed happened. Sobhi replaced the out of sorts Morsi but it was Salah who took his place up front with Trezeguet, Al-Said and Sobhi behind him. The plan for the second half was clear: use Salah's speed to stretch the Ghanaian backline and use the speed and trickery of the attacking trio behind Salah in creating scoring opportunities for him. Atsu and Jordan Ayew were doing their best in the attacking third and caused Egypt some problems around the box with no clear-cut opportunities thanks to the outstanding Hegazi who was simply exceptional and did not put a foot wrong all through the game. Cuper wanted his team to play on counter attacks knowing that the Ghanaian team will attack aggressively and leave spaces behind them. The players could not have applied his plan any better even though that second goal came in the 87th minute which understandably made the second half as tense as it gets. Sobhi of Stoke City, who had an excellent 45 minutes, was the catalyst behind the goal as he took the ball on the left hand side and used the space in front of him effectively to open up the defence of Ghana to give Salah an excellent pass inside the box. The Roma star did brilliantly to get past his opponent only to get fouled and see the ball reach Al-Said around the penalty area. The Ahly superstar did exceptionally well to turn and slot home in the bottom corner to send the Egyptian fans and staff crazy celebrating the killer goal that all but sealed the win. “I admit the performance wasn't great and that we lost possession easily so many times due to poor passes but I planned for the game based on the abilities of the players available for the match,” Cuper told the media at the post-match press conference. “We could and should have done better when we had the ball but the Ghanaian side is one of the best in Africa and it wasn't that easy to play a great passing game against them. But the players fought extremely hard and gave 200 per cent to win the game and they deserve to be congratulated on doing that without conceding. Our defence was brilliant.” “The Ghanaian players had better possession but they couldn't create clear cut chances while we created three real chances apart from the two goals. Would have Egyptians accepted being the better side but lose the game? I'm sure the answer is ‘no'. I have players who play as one family and gave their all today to make their nation happy and proud and I promise you we'll have better games and entertain more in the future but let's celebrate the win for now.” The Argentinian said it was not over yet and that they still have four matches to play in the qualifications to collect 12 important points. “Meanwhile, the focus will be on the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon in January which would be the best chance to play against those teams again and a chance to better prepare for the rest of the World Cup qualifications,” Cuper said. Ghana's head coach Avram Grant, who once coached English Premier League champions Chelsea, described the game as strange. “It was really a very strange game and very strange result as well. My team was better most of the time and was dominating the game most of the time even when the Egyptians took the lead 1-0 after the penalty. We were in control and the Egyptians were not even close to us. We had many chances but were unlucky to transform them into goals. Well, this is football, a game of results,” Grant said in the press conference. Grant was playing without Ghana's biggest star, the injured Asamoah Gyan, its captain and all-time leading scorer. Grant, however, said it was not over yet. “There are still 12 points ahead of us and we will fight in the coming four matches in order to make it to the World Cup finals. It is not going to be easy but we will fight for it and as you have seen the players here, they are fighters. I am pleased with my team's performance. They are a good and strong team, but again I say it is football and everything can happen in football. Egypt also has to play four games. They will play Uganda twice and play Ghana at home and anything can happen in football.” In the other game of the group, Uganda defeated Congo 1-0 at home a day before Egypt's win which means that Egypt now leads the group with six points from two games while Uganda is second with four points from two games. Ghana is third with one point and Congo bottom of the table with no points. The next group games will be played in August next year which means that Egypt will stay top of the group for at least nine months before facing Uganda away in another crucial game. Uganda is just two points behind Egypt while Congo and Ghana will play in Ghana. In other matches, Group A saw Tunisia defeat Libya 1-0 away from home while Guinea lost to DR Congo 2-1 at home. DR Congo go top with six points and superior goal difference than Tunisia while Guinea and Libya have no points. Group B, or the Group of Death as they call it, saw Cameroon and Zambia draw 1-1 in Cameroon while Nigeria battered home team Algeria 3-1 thanks to three Chelsea strikes from Moses' brace and Obi Mikel's goal. Nigeria have one foot in the World Cup now as they have six points while Cameroon have only two points in second place with Zambia and Algeria having a point each. Group C saw two goalless draws, first between Mali and Gabon, then Morocco and Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast is top with four points while Gabon and Morocco are second and third with two points and Mali is bottom of the group with one point. Group D saw South Africa defeat Senegal 2-1 at home while Burkina Faso defeated Cape Verde 2-0 away from home to go top of the group level on points with South Africa but with better goal difference. Senegal is third with three points while Cape Verde is bottom with no points. Egypt is top in Group E which it hopes will stay as is by November next year when the qualifiers come to an end.
