Ramadan Sobhy scored the decisive goal in the AFCON U-23 finals, securing Egypt a hard 2-1 fought victory over Cote D'Ivoire as Egyptian fans lighted up the Cairo Stadium on Friday.
The young Pharaohs now head to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics raising their head high as the supreme representatives of Africa. Cote D'Ivoire will also be presenting the African continent alongside South Africa, which banked in third place earlier on today after defeating Ghana 6-5 via penalties.
Egypt gained the early lead in the 37th minute, but were shocked at the 89th minute with the equalizing goal before sealing the championship title in the second half of extra time.
The Pharaohs now secured their first U-23 AFCON tournament, but the tournament was only held 3 times.
Egypt wasted no time in pressuring the Ivorians as they launched an offensive game early on with Ahmed Ramadan wasting their first major chance in the 2nd minute.
The young Pharaohs wasted yet another critical chance in the 19th minute after Ammar Hamdy crossed the ball to Mostafa Mohamed who shot it straight into the defense.
Egypt scored the opening goal of the match in the 37th minute after Ramadan Sobhy penetrated through the defenses and crossed the ball to Kareem El-Eraky who blasted it into the net.
The Pharaohs kept pressuring through in the second half with Ramadan wasting a cross by Kareem El-Eraky.
The Ivorians shocked the world in the 89th minute, scoring the equalizing goal after Dombia was left unmarked and placed the ball into Egypt's goal.
Ramadan scored the closing goal for Egypt in the 114th minute after Ahmed Yasser Rayan shot the ball which was deflected into Ramadan's legs who placed it into goal, scoring the winning goal for his nation.
Shedding tears of joy, he tracked back in the dying minutes to carry out his defensive duties, making some passionate tackles to ensure there was no repeat of any concentration lapses.
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