Cote d’Ivoire 1-4 Egypt FINAL

Fathy [EGY] 12′, Keita [CIV] 63′, Zaky [EGY] 62′ 67′, Aboutreika [EGY] 90′

 Shouldn’t be shocking but we all wanted Ivory Coast to head to the finals to win. Some even wanted the host nation to take the cup. The truth is that Egypt IS the current champion. It should be expected that they should push for another record-setting sixth Africa Cup title. The Pharaohs are a tight unit. The interesting thing is that they will face The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon … again!. They battled each other less than three weeks ago in a crucial Cup opener in Kumasi. Cameroon and the spectators were shaken with a 4 - 2 taming of the Lions. 

The Elephants were quieted in the early part of the game by a sweet goal from Fathy. After that; the Egyptian defense tightened up to keep the Ivoirians away from scoring. El-Hadary is the best keeper in African football also!

Egypt scored again with Zaky and Côte D’Ivoire responded immediately with one of the best goals in this tournament from Keita. The Elephants wake up and push for more goals. But guess what? Zaky comes about 5 minutes later with a a tit-for-tat goal to the surprise or Kolo Touré. Ivory Coast is morally down. They begin to lose focus. The proof of this came in the extra time when Aboutreika put the cherry on top of Egypt’s victory gâteau!

So … will each team review the video tapes of January 22nd? Can this young Egyptian squad sprint up and down in the Accra climate to score Cameroon by high goals? Let the best team lift the cup!