Mostafa Mohamed Saves Egypt & El Badry Against Gabon

Mostafa Mohamed came off the bench to score at the death and salvage a 1-1 draw away to Gabon in the World Cup qualifiers on Sunday after the Pharaohs had once again produced a lackluster display.

The visitors were largely outplayed by their less fancied opponents in Franceville and their cause was not helped when midfielder Omar Gaber, who made a surprising start, was red-carded for a second bookable offense on 71 minutes.

Egypt were duly punished two minutes later as Gabon deservedly went ahead when substitute Jim Allevinah drilled home after a superb exchange of passes.

Coach Hossam El-Badry threw caution to the wind after making several attacking substitutions, introducing the likes of Mostafa Mohamed and veteran schemer Abdallah El-Said.

Galatasaray’s on-loan striker Mohamed missed the opening 1-0 victory over Angola as he negotiated a move to French side Bordeaux, which eventually fell through, and El-Badry said he was not in the right frame of mind to start the game.

But he made all the difference to net his first international goal on his sixth Egypt appearance.

He also stole the limelight from Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah, who produced a subdued performance on his first appearance in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers after he also missed the Angola clash in Cairo due to the UK’s coronavirus quarantine restrictions.

Egypt top the group with four points from two games, one ahead of Libya, who can move top if they beat Angola in the other group match on Tuesday. Gabon are third on one point.

Watch the full game here: