"It is a long time since Egypt had a night this good. There have been two World Cup qualifications since their golden age of three successive Cups of Nations came to an end in 2010, and they've got to the finals of two Cups of Nations since, but this had a different feel to the knockout phases in 2017 or 2021 (played in 2022)."
"The 4-1 hurt Cote d'Ivoire far more than the final had, the image of a bewildered Kolo Toure running away from Amr Zaki as he scored Egypt's third a symbol of the Pharaohs' superiority that night. Within four minutes on Saturday, Odilon Kossounou had got in a similar mess, legs tangled as Omar Marmoush sped by him to put Egypt ahead."
Egypt produced a lively, decisive performance to beat Cote d'Ivoire 3-2, marking possibly their best single match since the 4-1 semi-final win in Ghana 2008. The win contrasted with recent cautious knockout campaigns in 2017 and 2021, showing attacking intent rather than grinding results. Early movement from Omar Marmoush exposed defensive errors from Odilon Kossounou and set the tone. Historic ties and memories inform national matchups, so the victory sets up a high-stakes semi-final against Senegal that revives the Salah–Mané rivalry and echoes outcomes from recent meetings in continental finals and World Cup qualification.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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