AFCON 2023: Salah-less Pharaohs in eye of the storm against brutal Leopards

Posted : 28 January 2024

The most successful team in the history of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Pharaohs of Egypt, will face a more rejuvenated side, the Leopards of DR Congo, on Sunday without their inspirational captain, Mohamed Salah, in what will be a true test of strength.

The seven-time champions Egypt had performances well below par in the group stage, trailing behind the leader, the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, the Mambas of Mozambique, and the Black Stars of Ghana.

The teams that were widely predicted to top the table, Egypt and Ghana, find themselves at the bottom, leaving countries often considered as minnows to steal the show. Moreover, Egypt only qualified through the third-best syndrome, while Ghana was shown the exit door.

After stumbling and wobbling, Egypt reached the round of 16 at AFCON, relying on the skin of their teeth, and will now face one of the top performers of the competition, the Leopards of DR Congo, at Stade Laurent Pokou on Sunday.

While the winner between both countries will move to the quarterfinals, it remains to be seen if Egypt is impressive enough to overcome the Leopards of DR Congo.

Egypt, the seven-time champions, were expected to easily reach the last 16, but unfortunately, they qualified without winning a single match in the group stages.

To make matters worse, their talismanic captain, Salah, sustained an injury against Ghana. While the team will likely rely on Mostafa Mohamed to lead the attack, having scored in each of the three group-stage matches, without Salah, the Pharaohs of Egypt look ordinary. They managed a paltry three points in their three group stage matches, drawing each game by the same scoreline of 2-2.

Rui Vitoria's side displayed a mixed bag of performances, including a resilient showing against Ghana, where they had to come from behind twice. However, against Cape Verde, they surrendered the lead on two occasions.

After a frantic end to their final group stage fixture, the Egyptians hope for a better outing against the Leopards. However, considering their history, they may face tough challenges, with four out of their last seven AFCON knockout ties going to a penalty shootout.

Nevertheless, the Pharaohs are a more expensive side than the Leopards and should head into the showdown with confidence. Egypt has only lost one of their five Africa Cup of Nations encounters against this opponent, winning three and drawing the other.

On the other side, the Leopards of DR Congo boast a slightly familiar path with Egypt going into the knockout stage, as they also failed to win a single match heading into this stage.

The Leopards played to a 1-1 draw against Zambia before holding Morocco to a 1-1 draw in a controversy-tainted match. They eventually advanced with a stalemate against Tanzania in match three.

With these results, Sebastien Desabre's side has failed to win any of their last six matches in all competitions and has only managed one victory in their last 10, which came against Mauritania in World Cup qualifying back in November.

Of all 16 teams that qualified for the round of 16 in this year's AFCON, Congo DR scored the second-fewest goals in the group stage matches (2), with only Namibia posting a lower tally over the same period (1).

The Leopards have advanced from the group stage in their last four AFCON appearances but were ousted in the first knockout match in both 2019 (drawing 2-2 and losing 4-2 on penalties against Madagascar) and 2017 (losing 2-1 against Ghana in the quarter-final).

Aside from Mohamed Salah's injury, Egypt also has a couple of other injury worries. Vitoria will have to make do without the first-choice goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy, who picked up an injury in the last match against Cape Verde. This should see Mohamed Abou Gabal line up between the sticks in this match.

In addition, midfielder Emam Ashour has also been ruled out of this match after suffering a concussion while attempting an overhead kick in training midweek.

For Congo DR, defender Henock Inonga was forced to sit out their last match against Tanzania due to a head injury. It is still unclear if he will be fit to feature in Sunday's fixture against the Pharaohs.

Yoane Wissa scored the Leopards' opening goal in this competition and will spearhead the attack once again. Cedric Bakambu could be brought back into the starting 11 to support the Brentford attacker.

This will be the fifth AFCON encounter between Egypt and DR Congo, with the Pharaohs winning three of the previous four.

Egypt and DR Congo have met twice previously in the knockout rounds of the Africa Cup of Nations, each winning once (DR Congo won 3-2 in the 1974 semi-final, and Egypt won 4-1 in the 2006 quarter-finals). On both occasions, the winner of the tie went on to lift the trophy that year – DR Congo (as Zaire) in 1974 and Egypt in 2006.

Egypt and DR Congo qualified for the knockout rounds of AFCON 2023 with three draws each in their group stage games. Only four previous teams have progressed from their group with three draws since 1996 (when groups were made of four teams), and DR Congo (also in 2015) is the first to do so twice (Benin and Tunisia in 2019, Guinea in 2015).

Also, four of Egypt’s last seven Africa Cup of Nations knockout matches have gone to penalties (three wins, one defeat), while they have failed to score in four of their last five in the knockouts, with the other being a 2-1 win over Morocco in the 2021 quarter-final.

For the match, it is expected that Egypt should take it, but the team currently lacks leadership, making them unpredictable.

AFCON 2023: Salah-less Pharaohs in eye of the storm against brutal Leopards

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