Egypt grabbed a 4-2 away victory over Zimbabwe in the World Cup qualifiers thanks to a superb performance by Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Abou-Treika. Basel star Salah created the opening goal for Abou-Treika after just six minutes as Knowledge Musona equalized for the home side. Salah restored Egypt's lead near half time before making it 3-1 after a sublime Abou-Treika assist, only for Lincoln Zvasiya to pull one back for the Warriors with four minutes to go. But another Treika-Salah combination sent the latter through to get his third and put the game beyond doubt near the end. Lethal partnership Egypt got the perfect start when Salah's cut-back found Abou-Treika, who fired home on six minutes after a clever dummy by Ahmed Fathi. The hosts were stunned for a while but were eventually helped by a silly error from Mahmoud Fathallah, allowing hitman Musona to pounce on and level. Salah then missed an open goal as his point-blank effort was thwarted by Washington Arubi. Egypt were almost punished but Sherif Ekrami made a good stop to deny Zimbabwe from scoring a goal that could have changed the course of the game. Another super save appeared at the other end when Arubi denied an Abou-Treika header. Egypt goalie Ekrami, making his first competitive appearance at 30, claimed the assist for the second goal after his trade-mark long ball found Salah, who slid home with aplomb before half time. The second half began and the lively Salah was guilty of missing two good chances. But the on-fire forward made no mistake with his third attempt, slotting past Arubi after a slick Treika pass. While he seemed to be having a good game, Ekrami was guilty of allowing Zvasiya's header in from between his hands as the Warriors thought they were back in it. But the fiery Salah completed his hat-trick after another pass by Abou-Treika, steering home a neat finish past the outrushing Arubi with a few minutes remaining.
