The Pharaohs owe the victory to the defense pole, Mohamed Abdel Moneim, who scored the only goal in the 36th minute.
It is the second successive victory for the Pharaohs following the first over Guinea Bissau with the same result in the second round, raising its score to six points, ending the first round in second place, three points behind the leaders Nigeria and the only one who achieved the full mark by beating Guinea Bissau 2-0 in Garoua.
The Egyptian team achieved the most important victory and secured its ticket, knowing that a draw was enough for it to catch up with the qualifiers, since Guinea-Bissau was its rival and Sudan on the second card lost once morest Nigeria.
Egypt entered the match with two chances to qualify, winning regardless of the outcome of the second match between Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau, or a tie, provided that Guinea-Bissau stumbled.
On the other hand, Sudan suffered its second loss following the first once morest Nigeria 1-3 and was eliminated from the tournament with one point in third place.
The loss of Sudan gave Cape Verde and Malawi the cards for the best four teams to finish the first round in third place.
Cape Verde came third in the first group with four points, and Malawi also collected in the second group and secured its qualification to the quarter-finals for the first time in its history.
Cape Verde and Malawi overcame Comoros in the third group, but the latter still has hopes pending the conclusion of the third round of the fifth and sixth groups on Thursday.
Algeria plays (1 point) with Ivory Coast (4 points), Equatorial Guinea (3 points) with Sierra Leone (2 points) in Group E, Tunisia (3 points) with Gambia (4 points), Mali (4 points) with Mauritania (from without credit) within the sixth group.
Tunisia seems almost guarantor of qualification, but it will play tomorrow’s match in the absence of 12 players due to infection with the “Covid-19” virus, including the captain, French Saint-Etienne striker, Wahbi Khazri.
Tunisia has 3 points with a goal difference advantage (+3), and it must avoid losing by 5 goals once morest Gambia to ensure its card among the best third-placed teams, while it still has chances to finish the first round in the lead if it wins and Mali stumbles once morest Mauritania.
Ivory Coast qualified without playing, as it will be in the worst case third in Group E if it loses to Algeria, because its balance will freeze at four points and it will surpass Comoros and Sudan.
The number of qualified teams for the quarter-finals increased to 11: Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde (Group I), Senegal, Guinea, Malawi (second), Morocco and Gabon (third), Nigeria and Egypt (fourth) and Ivory Coast (fifth).
And the Egyptian team, the record holder in the number of titles in the continental wedding (7 times), dedicated its control over the Nile derby when it defeated Sudan 1-0 and eliminated it from the tournament.
It is the 20th victory of the Pharaohs over the Souk Al-Jedyan in 29 matches between them, compared to three defeats and six draws, as it is the fourth victory for them in six confrontations in the continental wedding, the last of which was 3-0 in the 2008 edition when they crowned the title, compared to a 2-2 draw in the 1963 edition in Ghana as well, and a loss 1-2 in the 1970 edition in Sudan.
The Egyptian team had the advantage in the first half and almost scored the net on more than one occasion, had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Mohamed Mustafa, who preferred Sudan coach Burhan Tiya to pay him mainly at the expense of Ali Abu Eshryn, who presented a disappointing performance once morest Nigeria in the second round.
But coach Tiye had to push Babu 20 at the beginning of the second half due to Mustafa’s injury.
Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring early when Galatasaray striker Mustafa Mohamed prepared for him a ball with his chest inside the area and shot it powerfully over the three woods (1).
Muhammad Abdullah Hussein responded to him when he received a ball from Muhammad Abd al-Rahman following a counterattack, so he penetrated into the area and hit it hard, in turn, over the goal (3).
Mustafa Muhammad almost did it with a header from close range following a side free kick that passed next to the left post (5), and defender Ayman Ashraf tried his luck with a powerful shot crawling from inside the area, which the goalkeeper blocked before the defense removed it (14).
The Sudanese goalkeeper starred in removing a header from Muhammad Mustafa following a corner kick that Abdullah Al-Saeed took and moved to a second corner that was the source of the first goal when Salah hit it and the defender Abdel Moneim followed it with his strong head from a close distance into the goal that did not bear fruit (35).
It is the first international goal for Abdel Moneim, who played mainly due to the absence of Mahmoud Hamdi Al Wensh due to injury.
The Sudanese goalkeeper saved his goal from a second goal by removing a powerful shot from close range to Al-Saeed and turning it into a corner (42).
Liverpool’s English star, Mohamed Salah, manipulated the Sudanese defense and penetrated the area and hit a creeping ball, which was pushed away by Abu Eshreen, before the defense dispersed it (60).
Amr Al-Sulayya missed the opportunity of the knockout when he received a ball on a plate of gold from Salah inside the area, and he hit it strangely over the crossbar (65).
Aston Villa’s English striker Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet said, “Praise be to God for qualifying. Sudan is a respectable team and we respected it very much. The coming period is the most important for winning the championship, and hopefully, the next one will be better.”
For his part, the defense pole of the Pharaohs and the Saudi Federation of Jeddah, Ahmed Hegazy, who was chosen as the best player in the match, said, “It was an important victory, and the most important for Ka was the finalization of qualification. Our performance is improving and we might have won by more than one goal. We hope that the coming period will be better for us.”
In the second match in the same group, Nigeria, the three-time champion in 1980, 1994 and 2013, continued its strong start and achieved the third win in a row, and it was at the expense of Guinea-Bissau 2-0 at the “Romde Adjea Stadium” in Garoua.
Nigeria managed to open the scoring at the beginning of the second half through Omar Siddiq, when he took advantage of a cross pass by Leicester City striker Kelechi Ihiancho (56).
A friend went out immediately following the goal, leaving his place to Peter Olayinka (57).
Defender William Trost-Ekong strengthened the “Excellent Eagles” team’s lead when he took advantage of a rebound from the crossbar following a shot by French Nantes striker Moses Simon following a great individual effort inside the area, so he easily followed it into the empty goal (75).
