Egypt and Ghana shared the spoils in a bombastic 2-2 draw in their second game of the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday.
Mohammed Kudus was the star of the show with two goals but the Black Stars were unable to hold onto their lead, leaving them with just one point from their two games so far. Egypt, having drawn with Mozambique in their first game, were dealt a horrible blow when they lost Mohamed Salah to injury and were deprived of the three points again.
It was a fairly even start to the game, with neither side enjoying decent chances or seeing a great deal more of the ball than the other. However, things went terrible for Egypt and wonderful for Ghana in a short space of time as Salah went down off the ball and was substituted with an apparent injury in first-half stoppage time. A minute later, Ghana were in the lead as Kudus fired in a beautiful goal from the edge of the box.
Egypt thought they had pulled level early in the second half when Mohamed Abdelmonem put the ball in the back of the net but the goal was ruled out for offside. Egypt carved out another good chance when Omar Marmoush, who was excellent throughout, tested Richard Ofori’s resolve with a dangerous shot but the Ghana goalkeeper pulled off a strong save.
Then came what may be the most bizarre six minutes we will see in this competition. First, Inaki Williams’ awful pass backwards was pounced on by Egypt and Marmoush was able to fire in the equaliser. Just two minutes later, Kudus came to the rescue again when he took on a pass and lashed Ghana back in front.
That lead lasted just three minutes, though, after some great work from Trezeguet resulted in Mostafa Mohamed nipping in to knock in another equaliser for the Pharaohs, as they posted just their second point in as many matches.
Kudus really popped up when it mattered – on two occasions! Ghana were able to capitalise on Egypt’s misery after losing Salah by blasting in a fine opener a minute later. Then, immediately after Williams’ terrible pass gave away the equaliser, Kudus combined with Dennis Odoi and smashed in another goal.
It’s rare to see a player be worse than useless, but that is the only way to describe Williams in this match. The forward was never a threat on goal and his only contribution was for Egypt instead of Ghana as his awful pass gave away the first equaliser.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Both of these teams will be disappointed so far after failing to win in their first two matches. Egypt will have to take on Group B leaders Cape Verde in their final game of the round, while Ghana need to beat Mozambique if they are to have any hope of staying in the competition.
