Record African Cup of Nations holders Egypt miss out for the third time running for the first time in their history.
The Pharaohs, needing to win by a two-goal margin to qualify for next year’s Equatorial Guinea finals as the best third-placed side among the seven groups, went ahead on the quarter-hour mark, thanks to a goal from Mohamed Salah.
The record seven-time winners appeared a much improved version of the one which suffered two defeats by Senegal and lost at home to Tunisia, looking very composed in the first half.
However, once a Hossam Ghaly mistake allowed Tunisia’s Yassine Chikhaoui to restore parity seven minutes after the interval, Egypt dramatically collapsed.
The already-qualified Carthage Eagles toyed with Egypt and were unlucky not to score on several occasions until Wqahbi Khazri curled home a late free kick, drawing cheers from the crowd in Monastir.
The third-place ticket went to DR Congo, who defeated Sierra Leone 3-1 in Group D to finish their campaign with nine points.
Egypt also finished third but with just six points, which they had collected from two successive wins over minnows and bottom side Botswana. Tunisia advanced to the Nations Cup as Group G winners, followed by Senegal who crushed Botswana 3-0 on Wednesday.
Egypt have never failed to reach Africa’s showpiece three straight times. They missed out on two consecutive editions twice: in 1965 and 1968 and 2012 and 2013.
