Mohamed Nagi 'Geddo' once again came on as a second-half substitute to score a precious winner and help Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 and clinch a seventh Nations Cup title on Sunday. When the game was about to be taken to extra-time, the Ittihad star broke the deadlock in the 86th minute to give the Pharaohs a hard-fought victory. Geddo was named the competition's top scorer with a five-goal tally. Surprisingly, he has never been included in Egypt's starting line-up. The African champions set a new record by winning the CAN title three times on the trot, and extended their overall record to seven. Egypt also extended their unprecedented CAN unbeaten streak to 19 matches. Skipper Ahmed Hassan and goalie Essam Al-Hadari became the only players to win the continental competition four times. Exciting Start
Ghana came on with all guns blazing in an exciting start to the game, and maintained a solid backline throughout the first 45 minutes. Emad Meteb had the first scoring chance when he chested down an Ahmed Hassan diagonal cross inside the area but couldn't round his challenger and fell down. After 14 minutes an unmarked Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu came close to volleying home Kwadwo Asamoah's free-kick from point-blank range but he overshot the ball. Asamoah tried his luck from distance midway through the first period to see his effort easily blocked by Al-Hadari. Mohamed Zidan replied shortly afterwards with a tame low shot that went inches past the post. The second half witnessed many long-range shots from the Ghanaians, while Egypt's rearguard and midfielders became error-prone for a while. Asamoah Gyan could have opened the scoring on 52 minutes but his free-kick went centimeters over the bar. Dede Ayew's fierce low drive went wide of the mark minutes later.
Geddo Introduction On 70 minutes, Geddo replaced Meteb, whose performance was clearly affected by his hamstring injury. The introduction of the 25-year-old star paid off later on. Egypt kept piling up pressure from both flanks but most of their crosses were found by the Black Stars. Al-Hadari was about to cost Egypt dearly when his punched clearance went in the wrong direction 12 minutes from time. Geddo combined well with Zidan on 85 minutes to go one-one-one with keeper Richard Kingson and score with a neat finish. Ghana went all-out attack in the dying minutes trying to level the score, but to no avail.
