SUNDAY Oliseh’s quest to take Nigeria to the 2017 African Nations Cup in Gabon became more difficult yesterday when Super Eagles’ Group G main opponents, Egypt, went to Ndjamena to beat Chad 5-1.
Egypt, Nigeria, Chad and Tanzania are in the same Group G and the Pharaohs are now on top of the group with six points from two matches, while Nigeria is second on four points form the same number of games.
Nigeria’s next two games are against the Egyptians, first in Nigeria and then in Cairo. Those games would determine, which of the teams will qualify automatically for the Gabon 2017 African Nations cup.
But yesterday in Ndjamena, the Pharaohs maintained their 100 per cent winning record under Argentine, Héctor Cúper, with Bassem Morsi hitting a hat trick in the game.
Egypt showed the sign of things to come when in the second minute of the game, Bassem Morsi broke the deadlock by taking advantage of a blunder by Chad goalkeeper following a cross by his Zamalek teammate Kahraba.
Three minutes later, Egypt goalkeeper, El-Shennawy was called into action as he expertly parried a shot from Mahamat to maintain Egypt’s early lead.
The next ten minutes featured Les Sao attacking, while the Pharaohs sat back and used the speed of their talented quartet of Salah, Morsi, Sobhy, and Kahraba to hit their opponents on the counter.
The game plan almost paid immediate dividends when the Egyptians thought they had doubled their lead on 18 minutes. A cross from Abdel-Shafy was one-timed home by Salah, but the linesman adjudged the ball to have crossed the byline before being whipped into the box. Replays were inconclusive.
One minute later, El-Shennawy pulled off another superb save to deny a powerful shot by Mahamat. The save proved crucial as the Pharaohs doubled their lead two minutes later. Ahmed Hegazy sent a delightful through-ball over the top to Morsi, who outran the defenders before slotting the ball home at the keeper’s near post. Morsi had his brace, and the visitors were 2-0 up after 25 minutes.
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