Egypt Shock Ivory Coast In Five-Goal Thriller

[M|ch]

Egypt 4 - 1 Ivory Coast

Egypt will have a chance to defend their title against Cameroon after deservedly defeating the Ivory Coast in the second semi-final. It was a goal frenzy in which both sides had their chances, but that special touch of class gave the Pharoahs a merited win...


Egypt rode their luck at times, but they took, protected, and finally cemented their lead in a thrilling tie that they deserved to win.

The Ivory Coast, who had marked themselves out as favourites, thus fell at the second to last hurdle and will return home with nothing.

Both teams knew that a match with Cameroon awaited them in the final, yet it was Egypt who started with the most urgency, and even managed an early lead.

This, however, came after a spell of Ivorian possession, with Drogba managing to bring out a save from Al-Hadari ten minutes in.

Two minutes later, though, Egypt seized the initiative and took the lead. Ahmed Fathy took advantage of a poor clearance from a corner to drill in a low shot from the back post, with a fortunate deflection helping the ball past Barry.

Fathy was then involved in a moment of controversy after appearing to elbow Didier Drogba, but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt.

The Ivory Coaast simply needed to score, but for once their clinical finishing was letting them down. Indeed, after some great work by Kader Keita to set up Kalou in the box, the Chelsea man attempted a lay-off instead of shooting, much to his cost.

The match was going end-to-end, with the ever-dangerous Fathy being given plenty of space up that right flank with which to come forward and try his long-range shots, but by far the best chance of the middle of the half fell to Didier Drogba, who inexplicably shot straight at Al-Hadari despite being unmarked and just six yards out.

The Elephants' job was made that much harder just afterwards as Ivorian goalkeeper Barry suffered a terrible knock after colliding with a teammate, meaning that Greuther Fuerth's relatively untried stopper Stephan Loboue had to come on.

He didn't have much to do until the very stroke of half time, when he boosted his confidence with a low save from Hosni Abd Rabou.

His opposite number, however, was extremely busy as the break approached, with Toure winning a corner with a header before Didier Drogba's bullet of a header hit off his chest before being cleared in yet another chance squandered by the Chelsea ace.

Drogba hadn't impressed in the finish, but just after the break, he would have bene wondering what he would have to do to score. This time, his header was superb, but Al Hadari saved brilliantly down low.

That set the tone for the first quarter-hour of the half, with Al Hadari needing to be at his best to keep the Ivorians at bay, although some decent, last-ditch defending helped too.

Then, on the break, Egypt seemed to have killed it off with their second. Amr Zaki showed Drogba how it was done after his side won a corner, rocketing a header past Loboue to make it 2-0.

But the Ivorians finally found their shooting boots to hit instant reply, Kader Keita picking up the ball on the left, drifting in, and then hitting a long-ranger that foxed Al Hadari.

Still, the goalscoring action wasn't over yet, as the Ivorian defence and goalkeeper alike let themselves down to allow Egypt a third. It was that man Amr Zaki again, who got on the end of a long ball, held off his marker, and drilled in a long-range shot to kill the game off.

That dampened the Ivorians' spirits, meaning that both Amr Zaki and Zidane would have great chances to add yet more goals, but the game in fact seemed to slow down as it entered its last ten minutes.

But the Ivory Coast wern't quite down for yet, with Boka getting forward to try a long-range effort, albeit one well saved by the Egyptian 'keeper.

Nor were Egypt finished, for Mohamed Aboutriaka made it 4-1 right at the death, sneaking into the box entirely unencumbered by the defence to convert Zidan's cross across goalmouth.

That was a tremendous goal, and a great scoreline - one that sets the defending champions in fine stead for the title, indeed.

[Sony]

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