Marmoush's Egypt survive upset scare against Ratifo's Mozambique
Bundesliga AFCON representative Omar Marmoush of Eintracht Frankfurt and his Egyptian national team survived an early upset scare in their opening group stage fixture of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
A Mozambique side spearheaded by a fifth-tier German striker nearly took out the seven-time continental champions on Sunday night in Abidjan. Only a Mohammed Salah penalty deep in second half injury time enabled the Pharaohs to salvage a draw.
The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations very nearly saw its first major upset on just the second day of the continental showpiece. In the third match of the competition, upstarts Mozambique took a 2-1 lead against Egypt deep into second half injury time. Egyptian captain Mohammed Salah slotted home a penalty at 90+7 to help the Pharaohs salvage a point. Two German club players participated in the match.
A Mozambique side spearheaded by a fifth-tier German striker nearly took out the seven-time continental champions on Sunday night in Abidjan. Only a Mohammed Salah penalty deep in second half injury time enabled the Pharaohs to salvage a draw.
Bundesliga Egyptian representative Omar Marmoush did not feature in head-coach Rui Vitoria's starting XI. German football was nevertheless represented in the starting blocks by Mozambican striker Stanley Ratifo. The Halle-native plays for 1. CfR Pforzheim in the German fifth division. Though Ratifo has received some German media attention, he was not included in most pre-tournament lists due to the semi-professional status of his club.
The favored Egyptians took an early 1-0 lead via a goal from Mostafa Mohamed in the 2nd. The East African Mambas still threatened to equalize during the first half, taking advantage of sloppy passing in the Egyptian build-up-play to rattle off some promising counters. The underdogs would equalize ten minutes after the restart when lax Egyptian defending allowed winger Witi to head home the 1-1 in the 55th.
Three minutes after that, Mozambique struck again to take a sensational lead. Halftime substitute Clesio Bauque kept his nerve in front of goal following a lovely pinpoint pass from his midfield teammate Guima. Ratifo - not directly involved in either of the goals - exited the match in the 66th. Incidentally, Marmoush was introduced in the very same minute.
Egypt's pursuit of an equalizer produced nothing until goal-scorer Mohammed drew the penalty at 90+3. Salah converted the 2-2 after a lengthy VAR review. Marmoush managed much more in his relief shift than Ratifo did in his start. The Eintracht professional garnered 20 touches, went on four long dribbles, sent in two crosses from the left, and unleashed one shot on target.