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Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal to give Egypt a narrow 3-2 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final victory against Ivory Coast, while strikes from Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams delivered Nigeria a deserved 2-0 victory over Algeria.
Omar Marmoush struck Egypt’s opener and Salah scored the decisive goal as they ended Ivory Coast’s reign, with defender Rami Rabia also on the scoresheet. The Egyptians had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on to book a semi-final with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guéla Doué proved insufficient for Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy won the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint pass to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
It quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances. Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner. Ivory Coast reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break. Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doué touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute. That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Nigeria, who have reached the last four 17 times in the last 20 tournaments they have qualified for, will take on Morocco in Rabat in the semi-finals on Wednesday after their win over Algeria.
Osimhen steered home a long cross from the left by Bruno Onyemaechi two minutes into the second half as Algeria’s goalkeeper Luca Zidane made a bizarre jump to try to stop the effort but ended up getting his angles wrong and conceding an easy goal.
Adams increased Nigeria’s lead 10 minutes later as Osimhen unselfishly fed him the ball and he took it round Zidane before placing it into an empty net. It was an impressive performance by Nigeria, who missed out on World Cup qualification two months ago, as they overwhelmed their opponents from the start at the Grand Stade de Marrakech. Nigeria looked more determined, quicker around the field and stronger in the challenges, denying their opponents a single scoring chance.
Algeria had been forced to play extra time before winning their last-16 clash against the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday and the exertion could have been the reason many of their key players turned in listless performances. In contrast, Nigeria had a comfortable 4-0 win over Mozambique on Monday.
