December 4, 2021 Egypt's El Wensh celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
Doha: African football giants Egypt produced a ruthless performance to crush nine-man Sudan 5-0 and cruise into the quarter-finals of the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 at Stadium 974, yesterday.
Enjoying a good crowd support at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 venue, the Carlos Queiroz’s side dominated their opponents to join Algeria in the knockout stage from Group D.
Both the top-ranked teams will lock horns in the group showdown on December 7 at the Al Janoub Stadium.
The Pharaohs were in business right from the kick off with Ahmed Refaat giving them a lead with a fourth minute goal. Ahmed Zizo doubled the advantage with a 13th minute penalty before Mahmoud Hamdy glanced home in the 31st minute.
Egypt scored two more goals in the second half through debutant Hussein Faisal (57’) and Mohamed Sherif (78’) to complete the rout.
Nothing went in Sudan’s favour last night as they were reduced to nine men after Yasir Mozamil (45th minute) and Faris Abdallah (53rd minute) received red cards for their reckless tackles.
But even before the red cards, The Pharaohs were cruising comfortably with their swift attacks, taking 13 shots on target while maintaining around 70 percent of ball possession in the match.
Sudan failed to show their attacking skills against the Queiroz’s wards.
After their narrow 1-0 win over Lebanon in their first match, Egyptians came out all guns blazing pushing for goals from the word go.
Three minutes into the match, they won a free kick just outside the box and Refaat’s lofty shot rebounded after hitting the crossbar. The striker was second time lucky when he received the ball in the same position as a Sudanese defender tried to clear the rebound.
Refaat volleyed the ball in with an accurate hit with Sudan goalkeeper Ali Aboeshren unable to touch the high ball despite a flying attempt.
The Pharaohs doubled their lead soon after a mistake by defender Al Gazoli Hussein, who fouled Omar Kamal inside the box to gift Egypt a spot kick.
Zizo fired the ball past Aboeshren comfortably with a fine right-footed strike.
Egypt were controlling the game completely with their aggressive strategy as they already had launched four strikes on target in the first 20 minutes.
Queroz’s side came close to extending their lead when Faisal, making a surprise start, managed to deceive three defenders but his shot was blocked by Sudan goalkeeper with a diving effort.
Sudan were striving to stop raging attacks and were not getting opportunities for counter-attacks as they struggled to get the ball out of their own half.
Faisal crafted Egypt’s third goal setting up Hamdy, who fired the ball in from a good position with hapless Aboeshren unable to block his hit.
More horror for Sudan in the first half was yet to come as referee Matt Conger – after reviewing the challenge on a pitch side monitor – sent Mozamil off for his dangerous foul against defender Ayman Ashraf.
Sudan started entering Egypt’s half in the second session and won their first corner kick of the match in 49th minute. They were unable to do any damage before Abdallah was booked for a rash challenge on Zizo the next minute.
Abdallah was sent off after receiving his second yellow card three minutes later, again for a challenge on Zizo, reducing Sudan to only nine men.
Egypt then stormed to a 4-0 lead with Faisal tapping in into an empty net after Aboeshren poorly parried a header from Marwan Hamdi following a corner.
Hamdi thought he scored Egypt’s fifth goal but his goal-scoring effort was ruled out for a offside in the 72nd minute.
However, Egypt did not have to wait much for the goal as Sherif was on target with his header. The referee ruled him off side but gave the goal after the VAR consultation.
There was no respite for Sudan as Egypt continued to push for more goals and substitute Osama Faisal’s header just sailed over the bar, with six minutes left.
Another attempt was foiled by Aboeshren clearing a volley from Faisal as Sudan avoided further damage from several more attacks in the stoppage time.
Meanwhile, Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shennawy said his side will treat Algeria match as an early final.
“We came here to win the Arab Cup. We played with the same spirit and performance as we did in the first game against Lebanon, but we wasted a lot of chances; however, today we scored five goals,” El Shennawy said.
“We are a team that plays in the name of Egypt, no matter which players participate, everyone will show their best. Today there were many changes in the starting XI and we performed well. Algeria is a strong team and we respect them as they respect us. We are eyeing the win against Algeria as it’s considered an early final due to the strength of the two teams, but in the end, it’s a three-point for which team to finish top of the group,” he added.
