AFCON 2022: Salah loses Egypt, Mahrez loses Algeria

Mohamed Salah was in control as Egypt lost 1-0 to Nigeria against Kelechi Iheanacho in Tuesday’s first African Cup of Nations match in a superb goal by Kelechi Iheanacho.

Riyad Mahrez also had a tough day as he and his Algerian team-mate missed several chances to score with a stunning 0-0 opener with a stunning 0-0 win over 26-year-old Sierra Leone, who are playing their first major tournament.

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The results threw some pre-tournament predictions out the window at the 3rd African Cup of Nations in Cameroon. If there was a team to watch in the tournament it was Algeria, in a 40-match unbeaten streak since 2018. And if there was a player to see that, it was Liverpool’s Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer, with the claim to be the best. in the world right now.

It may be time to rethink.

The tournament is early, though. The first two teams in each team automatically advance to the playoffs and the best part of a tournament is still to be played.

Pelé wasted a penalty in Guinea-Bissau in a 0-0 draw with Sudan in the final match of the day. Pelé’s full name is Judilson Mamadu Tuncará Gomes, a French midfielder from Monaco.

With Algeria missing a chance at the opening of Group E in Douala, coach Djamel Belmadi was increasingly angry with the side. When Algeria ruled out their last chance in the depths of their last action in deep injury time, the coach who won the 2019 Africa Cup fell to his knees and knocked his hands to the ground.

Sierra Leone has been playing its first African Cup since 1996. But Algeria found no way out of Sierra Leone goalkeeper Mohamed Kamara, and celebrated the result as if it were a championship victory. The Sierra Leonean players left the field to go to the end of the day to attend their celebrations.

In a single day, a 22-year-old goalkeeper who plays for the East End Lions team in Freetown, Sierra Leone beat Manchester City’s Mahrez and the rest of the strong Algerian striker.

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Algeria had several openings. Yacine Brahimi fired two shots straight at Kamara straight into the second half. Algerian substitute Sofiane Bendebka was unable to get the ball across the net after 67 minutes.

Mahrez was denied a chance to score after a corner kick, but the shot went just wide.

Algeria laid siege to Sierra Leone for much of the second half, but striker Baghdad Bounedjah, another substitute, put his weak head straight into the arms of the Chamber for the final failure, sparking Belmadi’s frustration.

Nigeria wanted to be a team in crisis after the release of coach Gernot Rohr last month and temporarily appointed Augustine Eguavo as his replacement. Nigeria is also without a top striker, Victor Osimh, and two other strikers for the tournament.

Iheanacho, who has been warming up Leicester’s chair for the past few months, took advantage of the two heavyweights in the tournament in the first meeting to start Group D against Egypt. In the 30th minute he scored the top right corner for the Nigerian winner.

Salah had a real chance for Egypt at the end of the match, but Nigerian goalkeeper Maduka Okoye came out and blocked Salah’s shot with his left foot.

Eguavoen said the game plan was pretty simple: “Try to keep Salah off the ball and play high-pressure football at the other end.”

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The other Group D match between Guinea-Bissau and Sudan ended in a furious last 10 minutes.

Sudanese goalkeeper Ali Abu Eshrein was awarded a late penalty when Steve Ambri was challenged and the pair collided. Eshrein argued that he played the ball, but Senegalese judge Issa Sy did not use the VAR to verify his decision.

In the 82nd minute, Pelé from Guinea-Bissau scored from the penalty spot with a shot from just outside the box.

Two minutes later, Eshrein came out of his goal again catching a cross and his defense had to clear a shot from the line to rescue him.