The Pharaohs of Egypt, the host nation of the Africa Cup of Nations would be hoping to commence its group A opening fixture on a winning note as the team face Zimbabwe at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday.
Having won the tournament seven times, the Pharaohs are one of the favourites to win the AFCON trophy and shouldn’t find it difficult against a Zimbabwe side that is making its fourth appearance at the competition.
With stars such as Mohamed Salah, who won the UEFA Champions League trophy with Liverpool, Mohamed Elneny, Ahmed Elmohamady, Marwan Mohsen and Mahmoud Trezeguet, Egypt are going to bring their A game to the pitch.
Statistically, Egypt has won the previous four games against Zimbabwe and were able to hit the back of the net more than once in every single one of those matches. Mohamed Salah and his compatriots are undefeated when facing Zimbabwe at home as they conceded just one goal across the four encounters.
Zimbabwe national team captain Knowledge Musona says they plan to stop Egypt as a whole and not just Mohamed Salah in the opening match of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
“We should not only aim at stopping Mohamed Salah but everyone on the field because if we make that mistake, then we are going to fight against Salah, we will be destroyed by someone we don’t know.
“We just have to make sure that we are strong in every position and we are ready to fight in every duel and also take the chances that we might have, we are not here to talk, we are here to play, we came here to fight and it’s gonna be a tough game.”
Venue: Cairo International Stadium
Kick off time: 9:00PM (WAT)
Where to watch: SuperSport
This post was last modified on June 20, 2019 1:51 pm