Full-time: Egypt 1-0 Zimbabwe
Mission accomplished for the hosts. They started this match with real vibrancy but soon ran out of ideas against a well organised and very tidy Zimbabwe side. Both teams lacked sharpness up front - even Salah was a little below par despite being heavily involved - but the game’s one piece of clinical play was the difference between the sides. Trezeguet’s nicely taken goal gave Egypt maximum points. They leave the pitch with the knowledge that they will need to perform better to win this tournament, while Zimbabwe leave with no points but the conviction that they are a decent unit who could yet get out of this group.
90+2 min: Nervous times for Egypt as Zimbabwe continue to probe around their box. This is uncomfortable for the hosts ...
89 min: Zimbabwe quickly switch play. Chiwapawa sends in a lovely curling cross from the left, depositing the ball right on the head of Rusike .... who nods over from 10 yards! A let-off for Egypt!
87 min: Solimon pounces on a breaking ball near halfway and hooks a pass over the top of the Zimbabwean defence. Hadebe can’t catch Salah! But the Salah produces another weak finish on his right foot, shooting softly at the substitute keeper, who makes a good save.
85 min: It’s all become a bit laboured for Egypt. You get the feeling they’d welcome the final whistle right now and are relieved that their pesky opponents have not been deadly up front.
Zimbabwe sub: Chawapiwa on, Musona off.
82 min: Billiat dances past two opponents down the left wing, leaving them to bash into each other like confused bouncers. Then the Kaizer Chief schemer shuffles in-field and spots a run from deep by Karuru. He tries to play the ball into his path ... but overhits it. Yet again, nice Zimbabwean play peters out at the finish.
Zimbabwe sub: Rusike, Mushekwi off.
Egypt sub: Donga on, Trezeguet off.
Zimbabwe sub: It’s an enforced change of goalkeeper, as Sibanda has not fully recoverd from the injury he suffered in the collission with Mohsen several minutes ago. Elvis Chipezeze on, Sibanda off.
76 min: Salah is robbed just outside the Zimbabwean box, then suddenly the Warriors hurtle forward on a menacing counter-attack. Karuru decides to let fly from 30 yards. He strikes it well but it’s straight at the keeper, who saves with no panic.
74 min: The game enters a scrappy phase. It’s tense. Egypt can’t find the wit to get the killer goal and they know Zimbabwe can work their way into dangerous positions and may not continue to be as inaccurate with the final ball.
Updated
Egypt substitution: Warda on, El Said off.
70 min: Lunga intercepts a pass deep in his own half and then embarks on a thrilling safari forward. It takes him all the way to within shooting range ... but he eschews that option and plays the ball infield. So Munetsi goes the long-range shot instead, wellying the ball way wide from 30 yards.
67 min: Slack defending by Zimbabwe as Trezegut collects a throw-in from the right and is allowed to look up and play a simple pass through to Salah, who has a free shot on the run from 12 yards. But Salah scuffs his effort, leaving Sibanda with an easy save!
65 min: Karuru, who has had a fine game, does well to dig out a cross from the left. But El Shenawy snaffles it. Zimbabwe, though, are spending more and more time in Egyptian territory. The hosts aren’t safe yet ...
64 min: A freekick on the right gives Zimbabwe a chance to send a cross into the box. But the delivery is shoddy.
Egypt substitution: Solimon on, Mohsen off. That likely means that Salah will shift to centreforward and Solimon will go in on the right wing.
60 min: Elneny sweeps a pass from the left to Salah on the far flank. The Liverpool man takes it down beautifully and then feeds Elmohamady, who clips a pass towards Mohsen. The striker flips it around the last defender and tries to retrieve it on the far side but, yet again, Sibanda rushes off his line to intervene. This time, however, it’s at some cost to the keeper, as he collided with Mohsen and seems to have done himself a mischief.
57 min: Zimbabwe have spent more time in Egyptian territory over the lsat five minutes or so but they’re interplay around the box has gone awry at critical times. There’s a hint of a threat from them but unless they can summon a little more precision, it will remain unfulfilled.
55 min: Billiat tries to drop a freekick from the left into the path of the runners in yellow ... but instead he sends it too long, into the arms of El Shenawy.
53 min: The eer-alert Sibanda hurries off his line to prevent Salah from latching on to a nice through-ball by El Said.
50 min: Salah dodges past Musona and then tries to thread a ball through to Mohsen. But Trezeguet gets in the way, giving a reprieve to the Zimbabwe defence.
48 min: Trezeguet cuts in from the left wing and tries to send a curling shot into the net from 25 yards. Sibanda throws himself across goal and tips it around the post for a corner.
47 min: Salah tries to wriggle his way down the right and initially looks like he’s about to going to get into a shooting position near the edge of the area. But Munetsi sticks in a foot to sabotage is run, and then Nakamba arrives at the scene to tidy up. Good defensive work by the Zimbabwean pair. Salah has been heavily involved in this game so far an full of positive intent, but things aren’t quite coming off for him.
46 min: Zimbabwe begin the second half but lose the ball within seconds.
Half-time: Egypt 1-0 Zimbabwe
The tournament has begun with a pleasantly brisk half, and the hosts have the lead thanks to a deadly finish by Trezeguet after Zimbabwe were caught trying to play out from the back. Until then the Warriors had played well, defending stoutly and proving troublesome on the counter-attack. Egypt, who made a rampant start, begin to look short of ideas; but Trezeguet’s strike has transformed the game and Egypt looked very dangerous again after it. Zimbabwe, then, need to use half-time to steady themselves and try to figure out a way to stem the Egyptian flow again and spring forward themselves for an equaliser. It’s a decent contest and Egypt can’t rest until they’ve scored at least one more.
45+1 min: Mohsen and Mudimu receive treatment after banging heads as they challenged for a ball into the box.
45 min: Zimbabwe are reeling and Egypt are trying to finish them off before the break. Everything was going so well for the visitors until just a few minutes ago; now they have to shift into survival mode and get to half-time.
43 min: Salah tries to land another blow while Zimbabwe still try to com to terms with the first. He unleashes a crisp shot from 25 yards, but it whizzes a couple of yards wide.
GOAL! Egypt 1-0 Zimbabwe (Trezeguet 42)
Musona loses possession mid-way inside his own half and then Trezeguet takes over, collecting a pass from Ashraf as he runs into the left-hand side of the box before cutting past Hadebe and on to his right foot and curling the ball into the far corner!
Updated
37 min: Lunga does well to stop a run by Salah down the right and then take the ball forward to start a counter-attack. When their progress is stopped by a foul, Billiat takes the freekick quickly and slips in Mushekwi. El Shenawy hares of his line to make an important block at the expense of a corner.
35 min: With Hegazi off the pitch receiving treatment to his profusely bleeding nose - I don’t know how that happened - Billiat sizes up a freekick for Zimbabwe. It’s over 25 yards out but he is undaunted. But he got his calculations all wrong, because his shot sails high over the bar.
33 min: Mohamady finds Salah with another long pass from the back, but Hadebe hares out to meet him and put the ball behind for a corner. Salah delivers and inswinger to the back post, where Alaa mistimes his jump and somehow manages to head wide from two yards!
Updated
31 min: A high cross from the left wing reaches Salah beyond the far post. He fools Lunga with a feint one way and then the other, making enough room to blast off a low shot. Sibanda is well positioned to make a solid save.
29 min: Egypt’s early vim has subsided and they’re looking a little short of ideas at the moment. Things are going pretty much to Sunday Chidzambwa’s plan for now.
27 min: Salah tries to release Trezeguet with a quick pass from midfield, but that plan founders on a poxy first touch by Treeguet.
25 min: Zimbabwe are becoming increasingly pesky for the hosts. They’re tidy players and beginning to piece together some purposeful moves in the Egyptian half, with Billiat and Karuru particularly influential.
23 min: A pass by El Said takes a nick off a defender and deflects into the path of Mohsen just beyond the far post. The forward hits the bouncing ball on the half-volley but fails to keep it down, sending it a couple of yards over the bar.
22 min: Mohamady crosses from the right. Hadebe hooks it clear.
21 min: Nakamba leads a break from midfield after a nice give-and-go pass. They work it into Mushekwi in the box. He initially holds it up well but then force of numbers takes its toll and he’s dispossessed.
19 min: Salah comes deep again to pick up the ball and try to drop a lofted pass behind the Warriors’ defence and into the path of Mohsen. But, as with the previus time, he overhits it and the keeper collects.
16 min: Salah gives Hadebe the slip down the right and cuts into the box. Mohsen calls for a pass near the penalty spot but he’s marked, so Salah prefers to try a shot himself from an acute angle. He fires over the bar.
14 min: Salah has been invited to go on another couple of raids down the right just now, but both times he was foiled by solid Zimbabwean defending, notably by Mudimu.
11 min: Salah causes havoc down the right before firing in a cross thta Sibanda half-clears. Elmohamady collects it on the right-hand side of the box and cuts it back for El Said ... who leans back and sidefoots his shot over from 15 yards!
10 min: Zimbabwe step in to interrupt another Egyptian attack, and then launch one of their own. Billiant feeds Karuru, who tries to pick out Mushekwi from the left wing. But he misdirects his cross. Still, Zimbabwe, despite beingmostly on the back foot, have shown enough so far to prove they could be bothersome on the counter-attack.
8 min: Swish play by the Pharaohs, with Salah the chief conductor. A series of rapid one-twos takes him from the right wing to the edge of the box, where he tees up El Said for a smart shot from 16 yards. But it too close to Sibanda, who bats it away.
6 min: Zimbabwe show they are not to be trifled with by mounting a dangerous break. Musonda got it going with a clever pass into the left-hand channel, where Mushekwi took it up before laying it back for a cross. It’s deflected out for a corner, which yields nothing.
4 min: Salah drops deep to collect the ball off Hegazi. Then he aims a long pass from half-way over the top towards Mohsen. But Sibanda rushes off his line to intercept.
3 min: It’s been a dominant start from Egypt. They’re pinging the ball around fast and sharp and penning their opponents into their own box. Salah fired over a dangerous in-swining cross from the right that was batted behind for a corner, and then Sibanada had to tip a looping header by Mohsen over the bar.
1 min: We have kickoff! Egypt get the show on the road ... send the ball out of play within 14 seconds.
You know the way the TV cameras goes down the team lineup as their national anthem is played? Yeah, well the Egyptian cameraman really didn’t want to move beyond Mohamed Salah: he just lingered on the forward’s face as if marvelling at a natural wonder, and it seemed like he had to be pushed to continue on to the next player ....
Here comes the teams. Zimbabwe are resplendent in an all yellow kit, while the hosts wear their familiar red shirts, white shorts and black socks - and nearly everyone in the crowd appears to be dressed in the same colours. The pitch looks immaculate, the temperature is 26 degrees, and the national anthem are about to begin. The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is about to kick off ...
The opening ceremony is in progress in the Cairo International Stadium and it looks and sounds astonishing. Under dark night sky the pitch is currently covered by three large model pyramids, all illuminated red laser lights and the mobile phones of about 60,000 fans, most of whom seem to have brought some manner of truck horn with them, too. Wait, now the topography of Egypt is displays on the huge silver tarp covering the pitch. And now there’s bursts of fire, and elegant dancers who come together to form the face of a Pharaoh. No schlock here, this is high class stuff. And what an atmosphere!
Updated
Teams
Egypt: El-Shenawy, El Mohamady, Alaa Eldin, Hegazi, Mansour; Hamed, Elneny; Salah, El Said, Trézéguet; Mohsen
Subs: El-Shenawy; El Mohamady; Gabe, Ghazal, Soliman, Ashraf, Kamel, Hamdi, Mahgoub, Emad, Warda, Abdel Rehim
Zimbabwe: Sibanda; Darikwa, Mudimu, Hadebe, Lunga; Nakamba, Munetsi, Karuru, Mushekwi; Musona, Billiat
Subs: Phiri, Pfumbidzai, Chawapiwa, Rusike, Dzingai, Chipezeze, Kadewere, Mutizwa, Mahachi, Kamusoko, Mhlanga
Referee: A Alioum (Cameroon)
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the opening match of the 32nd Africa Cup of Nations. Eleven of the previous editions have been won by the host country and it would be no surprise if that happened again this time – in fact, a lot of Egyptians would be outraged if it did not. Home support has helped spur the Pharaohs to victory on the three of the four precious occasions that they staged the continent’s gala event, and this time they have one of the world’s best players, one Mohamed Salah. Pressure? Sure, but Salah and the rest of Egypt’s players are used to coping with that.
That bit about ‘the rest of Egypt’s players’ is important, because whereas the team that reached last year’s World Cup were set up by the then-manager Hector Cuper to defend to the max and channel all attacks through Salah, this side, under Javier Aguirre, are more committee and rounded attackers. They do not just rely on Salah to do the damage – players such as Trezeguet, Kouka, Mohsen and Soliman are all capable of tormenting opposing defences. And given that Egypt’s own defence is prone to occasional creaking, the Pharaohs like to stay on the front foot. The crowd in Cairo today expect and demand if not a goal spree, then at least concerted and relentless offence.
All of which means Zimbabwe have a big challenge on their hands. But Sunday Chidzambwa’s men got here by topping a testing group – finishing above two Congos and Liberia thanks notably to a smart counter-attacking victory in Kinshasa. Their ambition will be to spring something similar today to claim their first win in the Africa Cup of Nations since 2006 – the last time it as hosted in Egypt.
