Zambia 0 – 1 Egypt
Goal:
Hosni Abd-Rabous stunning second-half strike gave Egypt a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Zambia to keep alive their hopes of reaching the 2010 World Cup on Saturday.
A thunderous shot from the Ahli Dubai midfielder, who was named the best player in Egypts triumphant African Cup of Nations campaign last year, left Zambia keeper Kennedy Mweene with no chance on 69 minutes.
The Pharaohs were far from convincing but secured a precious away victory that helped them go level on 10 points with Group C leaders and North African rivals Algeria.
Algeria, who now hold a two-goal advantage over Egypt, can regain their three-point lead on top if they beat Rwanda at home on Sunday.
Egypt then host Algeria next month in their last group game. Goal difference can eventually play a role in determining the group winner who will book a place in next years South Africa finals.
Al-Hadari Heroics
Egypt had to thank in-form goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari for denying Zambia several certain goals in the first half.
The visitors struggled to move the ball around as the pitchs poor condition affected the rhythm of their play.
Lone striker Amr Zaki was isolated, with attacking midfielders Mohamed Abou-Treika and Ahmed Hassan hardly feeding him.
Zambia could have opened the scoring as early as the tenth minute when a poor clearance by central defender Wael Gomaa found the unmarked Rainford Kalaba, whose shot from the edge of the area fell into Al-Hadaris hands.
The Ismaili guardian superbly blocked a deflected shot on 25 minutes and pulled off a brilliant save five minutes later to tip Christopher Katongos header onto the post.
The six-time African champions survived another scare seven minutes after the break when Collins Mbesuma blasted the ball high and wide of Al-Hadaris goal when it looked easier to score.
Egypt notably improved afterwards as they upped the tempo to lay siege to Zambias area. The introduction of ENPPI striker Ahmed Raouf, who replaced the ineffective Mohamed Barakat on 58 minutes, also added impetus.
Raouf unsettled Zambias defense, which was very comfortable when Zaki played on his own, with some energetic moves down the right flank.
Egypts pressure paid dividends nine minutes past the hour mark when left-back Sayed Moawad, a peripheral figure throughout, laid off the ball for Abd-Rabou to fire an unstoppable right-footed shot into the top corner.
