LUANDA, Angola: Egypt won the African Cup of Nations for the third time in a row on Sunday after substitute Mohamed Gedo scored in the 85th minute to earn a 1-0 victory over Ghana in the final.
Tournament debutant Gedo curled in a shot from within the area to give Egypt its record seventh title.
“From the first day we arrived we said we were here to win the tournament,” Egypt assistant coach Shawki Garib said. “And we did it, even if it was harder than in 2006 and 2008.” No other team has won the biennial tournament three consecutive times.
Egypt, which hasn’t played in a World Cup since 1990, will again miss the showcase tournament this summer. Unbeaten in 19 matches in the African Cup, the team lost to Algeria last November in the playoffs for a World Cup place in South Africa.
“We play better during big tournaments than during our qualifying campaigns,” Garib said. “Over three weeks, it’s easier to develop team cohesion.” Egypt scored 15 goals and conceded just two on its way to the title and secured victories over four World Cup qualifiers: Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and Ghana.
“I’m really proud of the players’ achievements,” Garib said.
Ghana, which had been hoping to earn its first continental crown since 1982, dominated for most of the match but failed to create clear-cut chances.
“We played carefully, we were very patient and methodical,” Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac said. “We played to score and we controlled the match. It was unfortunate to concede a goal.” Egypt played without suspended striker Mahmoud Fathallah while Ghana was at full strength with goalkeeper Richard Kingson overcoming a minor hamstring injury to start.
Meeting in the final for the first time in 53 years, both teams made a cautious start, scrapping for possession in midfield and struggling to create chances.
Ghana defender Samuel Inkoom tried his luck with a free kick from 30 meters in the eighth minute, while Egypt captain Hamed Hassan fared no better with a long-range effort five minutes later, which flew over the bar.
Fielding four members of the team that won the Under20 World Cup last year, Ghana defended neatly and was able to move swiftly into the Egypt half. However, Ghana failed to really support its strikers.
Enjoying the support of the Angolan crowd, Ghana had another chance in the 15th minute but Agyeman Badu’s shot from a free kick was deflected wide.
Andre Ayew, the son of African great Abedi Pele, then failed to take advantage of Egypt’s poor clearance in the 20th minute, fluffing his half-volley while unmarked in the box, moments before Kwadwo Asamoah fired a 30-meter drive directly into the hands of Essam El Hadary.
Hassan tried to latch onto a free kick with his hand four minutes before the interval but couldn’t catch the ball.
Asamoah Gyan, who scored Ghana’s winners against both Angola and Nigeria in the previous stages, went close in the 52nd minute with a perfectly curled free kick that was tipped over the bar by El Hadary.
Ghana maintained its domination as Ayew unleashed a low shot that ended just wide while Egypt players were forced to make fouls to contain their opponents’ speed.
Gyan was a threat again in the 74th minute when he missed the target following a quick counterattack before forcing El Hadary to palm the ball away on a free kick.
Egypt finally broke the deadlock against the run of the play when Gedo, the top striker of the tournament with five goals, was perfectly set up on the left side of the box after a nice one-two and scored with a curling shot past Kingson at the far post.
Egyptians players and members of their staff invaded the field at the final whistle while fans lit flares. Striker Mohamed Zidan was blocked by security officers as he tried to reach the stands and was unable to join Egypt’s fans in their celebrations.
The team’s success was celebrated loudly in Cairo, with roving bands of revelers hitting the streets, banging drums, blasting air horns and setting off fireworks. One man spun an Egyptian flag around him in the style of a whirling dervish.
“They played with confidence and seemed convinced they could pull off a miracle at the end and they did that,” said Nabil Abdel-Hay, 57, who watched the match with hundreds of others on an outdoor screen in downtown Cairo.
“I believed this team deserved to get to the World Cup,” Abdel-Hay said. “It’s because they didn’t get in to the World Cup that they played with double the energy to get here.” Abdel-Hay praised goalkeeper Essam El Hadary: “He was amazing. He gave us a previous Africa’s Cup the same way.” As for Gedo and the substitute’s five goals throughout the tournament, Abdel-Hay said, “He only plays 20 minutes, but he always gets a goal.”
LUANDA: Egypt entered the record books here on Sunday, beating Ghana 1-0 in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations with supersub Mohamed ‘Gedo’ Nagy lifting the Pharaohs to their third straight title.
Gedo, who has scored from the bench in Egypt’s last four games in Angola, came on in the 63rd minute and produced his magic with five minutes left on the clock to cement Egypt’s standing as the kings of Africa.
The win also gave veteran coach Hassan Shehata a history-making third championship after Cairo in 2006 and Accra in 2008 and extended Egypt’s unbeaten record in the competition to an astonishing 19 games.
Shehata’s assistant, Shawky Garib, said: “I’d like to congratulate Ghana for what they did today (Sunday).
“It’s important to take your chance, and today we took it. But we respect the Ghana team; they played a very good match today.
“We said we were the champions from the first day we arrived in Angola, and we would defend our title.
“We have won three titles in 2006, 2008 and 2010. This was the most difficult of all of them.” Ghana coach Milovan Rajevic, who has worked wonders to put the World Cup qualifiers into their first continental final in 18 years with most of his top players injured, commented: “We are not so experienced, we wanted to win it so badly in our hearts but in the end Egyptian experience was crucial.” Egypt were unchanged from the XI that crushed Algeria 4-0 in the semi-finals save for the absence of suspended defender Mahmoud Fatalla — former Spurs midfielder Hossam Ghaly started in his place.
Ghana named an identical line-up to their last four win over Nigeria, with captain Richard Kingson taking up residence between the posts despite a late fitness scare.
The Black Stars made it to the final playing pragmatic rather than beautiful football, but they began in enterprising fashion, matching the Egyptians for speed and dexterity.
In-form striker Asamoah Gyan had an early shot go high over the Pharaoh’s crossbar and Serie A-based Kwadwo Asamoah had a long range effort safely scooped up by Essam Al-Hadary as the supposed ‘underdogs’ counter attacked with menace.
Towards the end of the first period both skipper Ahmed Hassan, on his 172nd international appearance, and Emad Motaeb, failed to connect with a floating 25m Egyptian free kick into the box.
Honors even it was as the sides re-emerged after the break with the 50,000 capacity Chinese-built stadium by now three-quarters full and the near 40 degree heat which greeted the players at kick-off cooling down as night fell.
Opoku Agyemang went into Mali referee Coulibaly Koman’s book for an ill-judged tackle on Ahmed Al-Mohamady and not to be outdone Egypt’s Sayed Moawad picked up a yellow card seconds later for handball.
Koman had his hand in his pocket again to fish out a card for al-Mohamady after a collision with Opoku.
The game badly needed a goal but what it got was another booking, this time Ghaly for pulling Asamoah.
Shehata brought on supersub Gedo with 20 minutes left for Motaeb hoping the Al-Ittihad striker would repeat his magic.
Ghana’s best chance came in the 78th minute when Al-Hadary did well to punch away Gyan’s lethal looking 28m free kick as Ghana’s youngsters had Egypt’s red shirts on the run.
Then unbelievably, with the game heading toward extra-time, Gedo conjured up the decisive goal with a sublime 1-2 with Zidan down the left to slot an angled shot past Kingson.
