Egypt were once again haunted by a shootout against Senegal, losing 3-1 on penalties following a 1-1 aggregate draw on Tuesday to miss out on a World Cup spot as the reigning African champions pipped them to a place in Qatar.
Sadio Mane, just like he did in last month’s Nations Cup final in Cameroon, converted the winning penalty with a powerful shot down the middle to spark jubilant scenes at the new 50,000-seater Abdoulaye Wade Stadium near the capital Dakar.
Egypt’s spot-kick specialists Mohamed Salah and Ahmed Zizo astonishingly missed the team’s first two efforts, failing to capitalize on equally opening misses from Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Saliou Ciss.
Another wasted kick from Egypt striker Mostafa Mohamed, who saw his tame shot come off the outstretched legs of Edouard Mendy, condemned the Pharaohs to a cruel loss as they failed to make back-to-back World Cup appearances for the first time.
Several Egypt players wept following the final whistle, with Mane upstaging the subdued Salah once again in another eye-catching duel between the Liverpool teammates.
Before Egypt’s Mohamed Salah attempted a penalty kick at the end of the second leg of their World Cup qualifying playoff versus Senegal on Tuesday, he was covered in green lights.
I mean, just look at this. Salah sails his penalty over… and surely anybody would, given the lasers.
Mane scores, Senegal wins the shootout, Egypt out of the World Cup pic.twitter.com/tgHmCmW8uu
— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) March 29, 2022
Senegal fans used the laser beams on Salah in order to distract him. The Liverpool forward ended up missing the shot most likely due to the various green laser beams that shined on his face. His shot ended up going over the crossbar.
