Egypt lost Mohamed Salah to injury before coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Ghana in its potentially decisive Africa Cup of Nations match on Thursday.
Mohammed Kudus scored both goals for Ghana but the “Black Stars” were let down by defensive mistakes as Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed capitalized to dent the four-time champion’s hopes of making the knockout stage.
Ghana remained bottom of Group B with just one point, level with Mozambique, while Egypt was second on two points behind group leader Cape Verde. Cape Verde and Mozambique play their second game of the tournament Friday. Only the top two in each group are assured of advancing.
Egypt’s hopes of a record-extending eighth Africa Cup title suffered a blow before halftime when Salah limped off holding the back of his left thigh.
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Ghana was boosted by the return of Kudus, fit again after recovering from a hamstring injury.
The “Black Stars” started promisingly but found it hard to get through the Egyptians’ defensive lines as the Ghanaian fans let their impatience show.
But a cooling break restored the supporters’ good mood with many standing up to dance and cheer as the party restarted in the stands.
Kudus scored in first-half injury time — a minute after Salah left the field — when he received the ball from Salis Abdul Samed, eluded one defender, then another, before firing past Mohamed El-Shenawy in the Egypt goal from well outside the area.
Kudus went close again after the break, before Egypt had a goal ruled out through VAR for offside and Marmoush drew a save from Richard Ofori.
Egypt kept pushing and Marmoush finally equalized in the 69th after capitalizing on botched backpass from Iñaki Williams.
Kudus replied two minutes later with a shot that took a slight deflection off a defender to sneak inside the far post. But another defensive error from Osman Bukari, who had just replaced Williams, allowed Mohamed to equalize three minutes after that.
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