Egypt edged out Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties following a 0-0 draw between the two heavyweights of African football on Wednesday during the last round of the Round of 16 stage.
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool scored the winning spot to send the Pharaohs into the quarters.
Manchester United’s Eric Bailly who played in a head gear had missed the third kick of his team – also the only miss among the ten attempted – but the North Africans made no single mistake from the spot.
The Ivorians – who dispatched Algeria by 3-1 in their last game of the group stages – were the team on form and many tipped them to have a slight advantage over the team of Salah and co.
Egypt do not score a lot of goals at this AFCON but their tactical discipline and strong defence are the key reasons why they are advancing into the deeper ends of the competition and if they get closer to the final , they will be hard to be stopped.
Egypt now face Morocco at the quarterfinal stage on January 30th in another blockbuster of a match.
