The Pharaohs of Egypt completed the double over Togo with a 3-1 victory over them in Lome on Tuesday. They are now joint-leaders of Group G along with Comoros on eight points each.
Mohamed Kafsha and Mohamed Shariff scored in the opening half, while Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan scored after the break to hand the visitors the win. Substitute Elom Nya-Vedji pulled a consolation goal for the hosts two minutes into stoppage time.
There were seven changes made by Egypt coach Hossam El Badry from the squad that started last Saturday’s game in Cairo. He had to contend with not having midfielder Mohamed Elneny and forward Salah too, both of whom were absent because of COVID-19.
The best chance to open the scoring went to Togo after 10 minutes. Kodjo Laba applied some good footwork to round Egypt skipper Ahmed Hegazy. This placed him one-on-one with Mohamed Elshennawy but Laba’s shot missed the target narrowly.
Two minutes after, Togo’s Gilles Sunu tried his luck with a header that went over. Hegazy could have scored against his own team but for Elshennawy who saved his miscued header at the quarter hour mark.
In the 18th minute, the visitors took the lead. Togo’s defense clearance found Kafsha who quietly controlled the ball and fired past Malcolm Barcola to make it 1-0 to Egypt.
The busy Elshennawy saved the Pharaohs an equaliser when he stood tall to again deny Sunu’s header from Matthew Dossevi cross.
The goalie then turned from keeper to playmaker, when his long ball from Egypt’s penalty area found Mohamed Shariff at the other side of the pitch. The latter coolly doubled the visitors’ lead after 34 minutes.
Togo did not fold up as a result. Instead, they returned stronger and very nearly cut the deficit by half, three minutes after the break when Dossevi’s first time shot went just wide.
But, it was soon 3-0 for the visitors. Long passes from the Egypt area to serve their attackers appeared to be the strategy. One such pass, this time from left back Ayman Ashraf found Trezeguet. The striker did not wait to be asked before burying it well. And, Egypt was well and cruising to an away victory.
There was still time for Elshennawy to complete his heroics. Again, he was the only thing standing between Laba and the net. He stopped the Togolese one more time in the 63rd minute. The crossbar came to his rescue five minutes from time when Mahmoud Hamdy, who scored the first leg winner, almost placed the ball inside his own net this time.
And deep into injury time, defender Elom Nya-Vedji followed a rebound ball after a corner kick to score a consolation goal for the hosts.
The win means the Pharaohs made it two wins out of two in 72 hours over Togo, who they beat 1-0 in Cairo last Saturday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
