“Pharaohs” evokes history to confront Ivory Coast.. An early conclusion in the nations of Africa

After a 14-year hiatus from their last meeting in the African Cup of Nations،Egypt will return to face Ivory Coast in the continental championship that will be held in Cameroon, at the height of the final price match tonight.

The meeting is considered an early final in the tournament, especially as it brought together two teams with a total of 9 titles won in the African Nations. With 7 titles for the Egyptian team, which tops the list of the most winning teams in the competition, and two titles for the “Elephants” team, which won the continental cup in 1992 and 2015.

The “Pharaohs” team ranked second in Group D with 6 points in the first round. He lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the first round and won the same result over Guinea-Bissau and Sudan in the second and third rounds, respectively.

On the other hand, Ivory Coast defeated Equatorial Guinea 1-0 with a difficult 1-0 victory in the first round. Despite her choppy performance in three draws, she left Group E behind with 5 points and advanced to the final. 2-2 against Sierra Leone in the second round. And there was a catastrophic jump in the match that caused goalkeeper Ali Badara Sangari to score an own goal in the last minutes.

Ivory Coast beat Algeria

The Ivory Coast national team showed its true face by defeating Algeria (the defending champion) 3-1 at the end of the group stage matches. While one of the Arab teams will participate in the tournament, on another date.

Despite the early confrontation with Côte d’Ivoire, the Egyptian fans are pinning high hopes on the win. Given the overwhelming advantage of the Egyptian team, where the two teams face directly in the competition.

In the 10 matches that were held between the two teams in African countries, the Egyptian team won 9 matches. He won by a landslide 4-1 in the semi-finals of the 2008 tournament, the last of which was held in Ghana.

The only victory for Côte d’Ivoire, which was held in Algeria in 1990, when the Egyptians took second place. In the tournament, after the late Mahmoud El-Gohary, coach of the first team for the period, refused. His team played in the competition so as not to affect the preparations for the World Cup, which will be held in Italy in the same year.

The Ivory Coast national team, Bashir Khair, was in front of the Egyptian team in its talks with African countries. After the “Sons of the Nile” team won 4 titles in the tournament.

The first victory for the Egyptians in the continental championship

In 1986, the Egyptians achieved their first victory in this batch against the Elephants in the group stage. To pave the way for them to win their third title in the continental championship at the time.

In the 1998 edition in Burkina Faso, the Egyptian team defeated Ivory Coast on penalties in the quarter-finals. And to continue the march in the competition, which culminated for the fourth time at the time, before the issue was repeated in Egypt in 2006. Where the Pharaohs won by kicks and regained the title after an 8-year hiatus.

Altogether, the two teams met in 21 matches at both official and friendly levels. Where Egypt won by an overwhelming majority of 12 to 6 for Ivory Coast, while the tie ended with three matches.

Although Egypt excelled, the last match between the two teams resulted in the victory of Ivory Coast. The record-breaker for the two teams in the friendly match that took place in January 2013, when Ivory Coast won 4-2.

High hopes for Mohamed Salah

While Egyptian fans have high hopes for Mohamed Salah, the star of the Liverpool team، The Ivory Coast national team has a battalion of professional stars in various positions and many prestigious European clubs.

Ajax Amsterdam star Sebastian Heller – currently the Champions League’s top scorer this season – leads the Ivorian side in the tournament. Which also includes AC Milan midfielder Frank Kessie, Nicolas Pepe, Louis Zaha and players for Arsenal and Crystal Palace. , respectively, and reflect the difficulty of facing the Egyptian team.

What increases the difficulty of the match for the Egyptian team is the great desire of the Ivory Coast players to win the title of this edition of the tournament. To compensate for the team’s failure to qualify for the final stage of the African qualifiers.

The confrontation with Cote d’Ivoire may be an opportunity for Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz to restore the confidence of the Egyptian fans. which often criticizes his administration.

It is noteworthy that the winner of this match will face Morocco, the winner of yesterday’s match against Malawi, 2-1.

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