Egypt vs Zambia - LiveBlog

Group C draws to a close today with Egypt vs Zambia LiveBlogged below and Cameroon vs Sudan being Liveblogged by Laurie nearby. Egypt can top the group with a win or draw, while Zambia need to better Cameroon’s result against Sudan. Should Cameron beat Sudan (and they probably will) then Zambia will need to win this one 3-0 or more.

Egypt 1-1 Zambia

Zaky 15 - C. Katongo ‘87

Group C
Date: January 30
Kick-off: 1700 GMT
Venue: Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi

WCB Man of the Match: Hani Said. Was a rock at the heart of Egypt’s defence.

FULL-TIME Whistle goes and it finishes 1-1. Cameroon just made it 3-0 in Tamale. Great late effort by Zambia here, but Egypt will go through with Cameroon in second.

-Two minutes of stoppage time as Zambia chase a winner.

90+ Felix Katongo makes space and shoots hard with his left. Just over.

87′ GOAL!!! Chris Katongo equalizes for Zambia. He got the ball at the back post, cut inside and buried it near post. Then he put on a gymnastic celebration of a hundred back flips. 1-1.

-Still 2-0 in Tamale. It’s Egypt going through in first place and Cameroon in second right now, and I’ll be shocked if that isn’t still the case at full-time.

83′ Chamanaga turns and shoots again. Only just wide. But Zambia will look back and wish they’d tried to make something happen in the Egyptian area instead of shooting from outside it all day. Especially with arguably the best keeper in Africa eating up all their efforts.

79′ Egypt pass and move until Aboutreika makes some space at the top of the box. His bending shot is saved. Aboutreika could do with another goal here to try and grab himself a starting spot for the quarterfinals.

77′ Clive Hachilensa meets a corner with a head, but heads it hard into the floor and the ball bounces of over the bar. As the JumpTV commentator says “we’re always told to head it straight down to make it difficult for keeper, but that was too straight down.”

67′ Chamanga turns and shoots at El-Hadary with a bit of oomph behind it. The ball takes a nasty bounce, a lot higher than looks normal, but El-Hadary catches it calmly. He’s only given up two goals so far this tournament, one of them a penalty (which he got his hands to.)

61′ Great turn from Malunga to get goalside of Said. But for some reason he passes the ball gently at El-Hadary instead of having a proper shot.

59′ Egyptians subs: Hassan and Zaky off, Aboutreika and Zidan on. Now that’s what you call strength in depth.

57′ Zaki chests down for Moteab, who aims for the corner but Mweene gets down to stop it.

55′ Great skills by Hassan. Rolls the ball back before taking off at pace down the right wing. Nothing comes of his low cross though.

50′ Hosni blazes a long range free kick over the bar. That thing was moving though, and I wouldn’t have liked to get in the way.

45′ Half number two is underway.

-Teams are back out and ready to get going again.

HALF-TIME 1-0 to Egypt.

45+ Moawad finds Hosny, whose header is saved. Fathy charges in for the rebound but finds the side netting.

Just a couple of minutes to half-time. Group C looking very straightforward right now.

-It’s now Cameroon 2-0 Sudan, thanks to a Sudanese own goal. Sudan not doing Zambia any favours today. Egypt taking more control of this game too, with Hassan starting to pull some strings.

31′ Fathy hits the side netting from distance. What’s happened to all the long range goals in this tournament?

-Word from the other game is that it’s 1-0 to Cameroon. Samuel Eto’o has scored (another) penalty to pass Laurent Pokou and become the Africa Cup of Nations all-time top scorer with 15 goals. Good for him. But bad for Zambia. Now they have to beat Egypt by at least three goals, which doesn’t look likely right now.

26′ Felix Katongo puts his left foot to work, but his shot is wide. Zambia have arguably had more attacking play, but Egypt lead 1-0.

20′ Chris Katongo got down the right and put in a low cross, Jacob Mulenga tried the cheeky backheel but Wael Gomaa stood firm and blocked the ball.

15′ GOAL! Amr Zaky scores for Egypt. Moawad crosses and Zaky scores with an improvised volley on the edge of the six yard box. 1-0 Egypt.

11′ Felix Katongo looked like he was through on goal, but a swarm of Egyptian defenders appeared in front of him. Katongo found Chamanga for a shot, which El-Hadary saved. Zambia going for it.

8′ Chamanga wins a free-kick and Felix Katongo shoots over. Come on Zambia, make a game of this at least.

-Will bring you the lineups as and when I find them, but Hassan is starting for Egypt, while Aboutreika has to settle for a place on the bench despite his brilliant second half performance against Sudan.

0′ Kck-off. With Egypt looking like one of the best teams we’ve seen so far. I can’t see Zambia getting the win they need.

-Teams are out and we’re nearly ready.

Scout Report - Egypt

Egypt have put in two smooth performances, the Africa Cup of Nations holders beating Cameroon 4-2 and Sudan 3-0 so far. Everyone was talking about the talents of Mohamed Zidan after his two goals against the Indomitable Lions, Mohamed Aboutrieka looked classy while scoring two goals against Sudan, and while gifted captain (and Africa Cup of Nations 2006 player of the tournament) Ahmed Hassan should be in line for his first start.

The only injury doubts are defensive midfielder Hosni Abdel Rabo (he of iron nerves and two successfully retaken penalties) and right mid/right back Ahmed Fathy. A win would give The Pharaohs a perfect Group C record, while a draw would still see them take first place.

Scout Report - Zambia

Zambia made an excellent start to Group C by beating Sudan 3-0, but followed that with a 5-1 capitulation to Cameroon. The biggest problem in that game was YouTube worthy defensive errors, with the Indomitable Lions being gifted three of their five goals. Zambia can’t afford to do the same against Egypt, because it will likely have the same result.

Assuming Cameroon don’t lose to Sudan, Zambia really need to win this game and win it well. With all the problems of the bonus row now behind the Chipolopolo, they’ll be looking to James Chamanga, Jacob Mulenga and captain Chris Katongo to supply the goals, while hoping the defence holds strong against Zidan and co. It’s not an impossible task, but it’s going to be an uphill struggle.

Team Blogs: Visit Tamim at the Egypt blog.

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