CAIRO, 4 February 2006 — Egypt’s 39-year-old captain Hossam Hassan steered the hosts to a 4-1 victory over DRCongo yesterday that booked them into an African Nations Cup semifinal against Senegal.

Midfielder Ahmed Hassan converted a 33rd-minute penalty and Hossam Hassan drilled the second before teammate Zaher El Sakka scored an own goal for Congo in first-half stoppage time.

Striker Emad Moteab put the result beyond doubt in the 57th minute from close range and Ahmed Hassan added his second of the night with a free kick in the 88th minute.

Senegal sealed their place in Tuesday’s semifinal in Cairo with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Guinea in the earlier quarterfinal at Alexandria.

Without injured striker Mido, the hosts still had the upper hand and never looked like losing before a packed International Stadium crowd of nearly 80,000.

Egypt used a three-man attack with Moteab, Hossam Hassan and Azaki against a Congolese side whose stay has been marked by haggling over bonuses and who only qualified on goal difference.

Hossam Hassan, winning his 167th cap, fired Egypt’s first shots in anger though they came well after Congo captain Lomana LuaLua had cut in and loosed off a drive that flew just wide in the opening seconds.

LuaLua’s men stuck to their task and could have been a goal up after 26 minutes when Biscotte Mbala squandered a close range chance from his skipper’s cross.

It came back to haunt the Congolese seven minutes later when Ahmed Hassan coolly converted his spot-kick after Zaki was tripped by Ndandu Kasongo as he sped into the area on the break.

Congo were in more trouble five minutes from halftime when Mohamed Barakat set Hossam Hassan free with a superb pass over the top of his marker and the captain ran through to blast his shot past Pascal Kalemba.

Just as the Congolese looked to have lost it, El Sakka turned the ball into his own net as he tried to clear in a goalmouth melee following a corner.

LuaLua nearly added another within minutes of the re-start after a dreadful clearance by keeper Essam El Hadary flew straight to the Portsmouth striker and his goalbound shot was just parried away.

But Moteab slotted home Egypt’s third after Congo failed to clear yet another raid from the host nation.