Tuesday marked the end of matchday two of Egypt’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification as the Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah scored as Egypt easily defeated Botswana 4-0. Other dominant African teams fared less well. South Africa narrowly defeated Nigeria 3-2 in South Sudan, while Nigeria was held scoreless in Rwanda. After joining the Ivory Coast team after the deadline, Jean-Philippe Krasso scored the first goal as the reigning champions defeated Chad 2-0 in Yaounde to lead Group G by three points from Zambia.
Kenya’s 2-1 victory over Namibia and Tanzania’s 2-1 victory over Guinea meant that East Africa could celebrate earning all possible points from their road games.
Due to transportation issues, Botswana just arrived in Francistown from Mauritania seven hours before their matchup with Egypt, the team that has won the AFCON seven times under Salah’s leadership.
The home team went down after only four minutes when Mahmoud Hassan, also known as Trezeguet, scored after goalie Goitseone Phoko parried a Salah attempt.
After 56 minutes, Salah headed in a cross that eluded four players, increasing Trezeguet’s goal to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at the break.
Egypt leads Group C after opening their campaign with a 3-0 victory against Cape Verde last Friday. Mostafa Fathy finished the sweep in extra time to give Egypt a maximum six points.
As Rwanda defeated 2024 AFCON runners-up Nigeria in front of an energetic Kigali crowd that included President Paul Kagame, goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari shone.
Ntwari consistently stood up to the Super Eagles, particularly Ademola Lookman, the only other African nominee among the 30 players for the 2024 Ballon d’Or men’s trophy.
In this year’s UEFA Europa League final in Dublin, Atalanta defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-0, and Lookman scored a hat-trick.
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