Egypt vs Zimbabwe: Salah is king! Liverpool and Man City stars help Pharoahs defeat Warriors

Mohamed Salah was at his talismanic best, as he scored the winner to complete Egypt's comeback in a 2–1 victory over Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe scored first against the run of play through Prince Dube. They took the lead into half-time, with Egypt failing to take their chances, before Omar Marmoush's equaliser in the 64th minute.

With time winding down and the game seemingly heading for shared spoils, Salah stepped to score the winner in the 91st minute to ensure Egypt began their campaign with victory.

Following South Africa’s victory against Angola, Egypt could not afford any slips and risk trailing Group B early. Hence, they had a bright start and threatened a goal fest early on, with Mohamed Salah creating two gilt-edged opportunities which were fluffed by Mahmoud Trezeguet and Eman Ashour. 

Zimbabwe had a clear counter-attacking plan, as fans of the Super Eagles are well aware, and stunned the packed crowd early in the 20th minute when Dube found space in the box and fired home past El Shenawy to make it 1–0.

Egypt dominated possession, but the Warriors carried a transitional threat for the rest of the half.  Egypt’s response grew in intensity after halftime as they dominated possession and probed for openings. 

Their persistence paid off in the 64th minute when Omar Marmoush danced into the box before burying the ball in the roof of the net, igniting loud cheers from the Egyptian supporters. 

As the match entered its final stages, Egypt continued to press and were rewarded in stoppage time (90+1′) when Mohamed Salah received the ball in the right half-space and shrugged off his marker before burying the ball past the goalkeeper.