AFCON: Egypt & Mo Salah through to the final after Clinton N'Jie's dreadful penalty | OneFootball

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GiveMeSport

·3 February 2022

AFCON: Egypt & Mo Salah through to the final after Clinton N'Jie's dreadful penalty

Article image:AFCON: Egypt & Mo Salah through to the final after Clinton N'Jie's dreadful penalty

The second African Cup of Nations semi-final between hosts Cameroon and Egypt had to be decided by a penalty shootout.

The two most successful nations in the history of the competition could not be separated after 120 minutes of action.


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Neither Mohamed Salah or Vincent Aboubakar – the talismen and captains for their respective countries – managed to find a way past the opposition’s goalkeeper, with neither player really going close either.

So it went down to penalties and in the most dramatic way possible to settle a professional football match, it was Egypt who prevailed to secure a date with Senegal in the final.

Cameroon missed three (yes, THREE) of their four penalties, former Tottenham striker Clinton N’Jie taking one of the worst spot kicks you will ever see to secure victory for Salah’s team – who scored all three of their attempts.

Take a look at the awful penalty here…

Video: N’Jie’s awful penalty vs Egypt

Penalty kicks don’t come much worse than that. Missing from 12 yards can be forgiven if you hit the target, but not when you miss the outside of the post by about a metre.

So, thanks to N’Jie’s woeful spot kick, we have a Salah versus Sadio Mane final to look forward to on Sunday and honestly, we cannot wait.

Which side Liverpool fans will be cheering is anyone’s guess, though…

Article image:AFCON: Egypt & Mo Salah through to the final after Clinton N'Jie's dreadful penalty

Senegal will go into the game as the favourites to win the competition for the very first time, as they have a far stronger team on paper and haven’t been taken to extra-time once in the knockout stage.

Egypt by contrast have played 120 minutes in all three of their matches after the group stage, with two of those going to a penalty shootout as well.

But can Salah and his tired comrades pull off something of an upset? You certainly wouldn’t put it past them, as they’ve shown tremendous team spirit and know-how to reach the final.

Bring on Sunday!

The Ultimate AFCON quiz: How much do you know about Africa’s continental carnival?

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Article image:AFCON: Egypt & Mo Salah through to the final after Clinton N'Jie's dreadful penalty

Where is the 2022 AFCON being hosted?

Cameroon Ivory Coast Burkina Faso Zambia

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