On Sunday 29 January Egypt will take on Morocco in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in an all-North African clash after it beat Ghana in the final match of the group stage. Thanks to Egypt's Roma superstar Mohamed Salah, his early strike was all what Egypt needed to defeat Ghana 1-0 on Wednesday 25 January to finish atop Group D with seven points which allowed Egypt to remain in Port-Gentil for the quarter-final match.
Salah's brilliant left footed direct free kick rocket in the top right corner came in the 11th minute, giving a boost of confidence to the Pharaohs who managed to protect the score until the end.
Thanks to the defence which included Ahmed Hegazi, who was later named man of the match and 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari, Egypt made up for two previous lackluster performances against Mali and Uganda.
Though Ghana's Black Stars had more possession of the ball and were in full control in the second half they could not find the equaliser.
In the other match of the group held at the same time but in another city, Oyem, Mali and Uganda played to a 1-1 draw. The result could not push either team into the last eight.
Back in the hotel, the Pharaohs celebrated their triumph over Ghana which coincidentally is in the same group with Egypt in the 2018 African World Cup qualifiers. They had dinner, then celebrated Hegazi's 26th birthday.
Chef Ahmed, the cook which the Egyptian delegation took to Gabon, baked a cake for the player who was surrounded by his teammates and other members of the delegation who sang happy birthday.
Most of the delegation stayed awake until the early hours of the following morning in celebration of the victory.
Egypt, who has won a record seven ACN titles, missed the last three tournaments, making this year's tournament all the more important for the Egyptians.
In the post-match press conference, Egypt's Argentine coach Hector Cuper thanked his players for putting on "such a respectable and brilliant performance" and winning the game.
"We always think of winning whatever game we play. I wished we had played a better game especially in the second half, but we were facing a strong and tough team who were very dangerous in the second half.
"We will start immediately preparing for the Morocco game which is also going to be another tough game.
The Moroccans are very strong and we need to be prepared. We will work on correcting our mistakes we made especially in the second half and we will be studying Morocco's previous games.
"Our ambitions are now higher. We are glad Egyptians are happy back home. All we can say is that we will do our best in the coming match in order to qualify to the semi-finals and we will fight until the last second of the game."
Historically, Egypt has an abysmal record against Morocco, having won just two games while losing 13. There have been 11 draws. The last time Egypt won was in the 1986 ACN played in Egypt, a semi-final 1-0 victory.
Ghanaian head coach Avram Grant said that the quarter-final matches in Gabon will be very tough especially that the two teams which qualified from Group C –- Morocco and DR Congo -- are very strong.
"I hope the condition of the pitch in Oyem is better than here. I would have liked to win the game against Egypt of course but now we have to focus on the quarter-final.
"The game against Egypt was decided by one mistake when they scored from a fantastic free kick but after that we dominated. Unfortunately, we didn't score but I am happy with my players' attitude and performance.
This is football.
"On Sunday, it is going to be a different story and it will be a tough game."
