Egypt struggles at AFCON, Japan favourites to lift Asian Cup

Abidjan, Ivory Coast Jan. 16: Big names Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen endured a difficult start to the Africa Cup of Nations as Sunday turned into a day for the underdog.

Salah needed to score a late penalty to spare Egypt’s embarrassment by drawing 2-2 against Mozambique, and Osimhen was unable to lift Nigeria to a winning start as the “Super Eagles” were held 1-1 by Equatorial Guinea in their opening game.

Four-time champion Ghana conceded in injury time to lose 2-1 to Cape Verde, maintaining the small Atlantic island nation’s record of never losing its opening Africa Cup game in four tournament appearances.

“It's a big team in Africa, in the world. Ghana has a lot of good players. But we showed tonight that we have a good team, good players, and we deserved to win,” Cape Verde veteran Ryan Mendes said.

Salah stayed cool to score from the spot in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time after Domingos was adjudged to have fouled Mostafa Mohamed in a VAR review.

That denied Mozambique its first-ever tournament win at the 13th attempt. But the team was still cheered by the majority of fans at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium.

Salah had also set up Mohamed to fire in the opener in the second minute of the Group B game.

The stadium, which had been filling up with Ghana and Cape Verde fans for the later match at the same venue, erupted when Mozambique winger Witi equalized with a header to Domingos’ cross in the 55th, and again three minutes later when Clésio Baúque fired the underdogs in front.

“It’s not the names that play, it’s the team, it’s everybody,” said Mozambique defender Reinildo. “We all save, we all play, we all score, we all concede. That’s what does it.”

Fans booed when the seven minutes of injury time was announced and cries of “Mozambique, Mozambique” rang around the stadium.

But Salah showed no nerves as he salvaged a point for "The Pharaohs” as they began their bid for a record-extending eighth title.

Osimhen scored but missed several good chances as Equatorial Guinea held on to draw 1-1.

Goalkeeper Jesús Owono produced a string of saves to frustrate three-time champion Nigeria in the second half after Osimhen had equalized in the first.

Nigeria dominated from the start only to be caught out in the 36th minute when José Machín set up Iban Salvador to fire Equatorial Guinea ahead.

Osimhen replied around a minute later when Ademola Lookman’s deflected cross dropped kindly for him to head in at the far post.

The result leaves coach José Peseiro’s team under pressure going into Thursday’s game against host nation Ivory Coast, which started the tournament Saturday with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau.

Cape Verde substitute Garry Rodrigues scored in stoppage time for a 2-1 win over four-time champion Ghana in Group B.

The “Blue Sharks” got off to a great start with Jamiro Monteiro scoring in the 17th minute on a rebound from Jovane Cabral’s initial shot saved by Richard Ofori in the Ghana goal.

Marshaled at the back by Roberto “Pico” Lopes and Logan Costa, Cape Verde’s defense largely dealt with Ghana’s speedy forward line of Jordan Ayew, Antoine Semenyo and Joseph Paintsil.

Majeed Ashimeru thought he’d equalized in the 36th with a long-range strike inside the left post after Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer’s header had ricocheted off the post for Ghana. But a VAR check deemed the retreating Königsdörffer was in an offside position and blocking the goalkeeper’s view.

The “Black Stars” finally equalized when Alexander Djiku headed in Ayew’s corner in the 56th.

Paintsil went close shortly afterward as coach Chris Hughton’s halftime talk evidently had the desired effect on his players. He sent on Iñaki Williams, Ernest Nuamah and veteran André Ayew, who equaled a record by playing in eight Africa Cups.

Cape Verde's substitute had the final say, however.

Likewise, Big wins for Japan and Iran on Sunday backed up their pre-tournament billing as two of the favorites to lift the Asian Cup.

Record four-time champion Japan came from behind to beat Vietnam 4-2 in Group D, and Iran overcame the Palestinian soccer team 4-1 in Group C.

Japan is the standout favorite to triumph in Qatar after its dominance was broken over the last two editions of the tournament.

It has not lifted the trophy since 2011 — ending a run that saw it win four out of six titles. And it suffered an early shock when trailing 2-1 to a Vietnam team ranked 94th by FIFA, before powering back to avoid an upset.

Iran, which won the competition three times in a row from 1968 to 1976, never looked like slipping up against the Palestinian team after taking a 2-0 lead inside 12 minutes at Education City Stadium on its way to a resounding win.

JAPAN COMEBACK

Takumi Minamino scored two goals in Japan's comeback win against Vietnam.

The former Liverpool forward opened the scoring after 11 minutes at Doha's Al Thumama Stadium but Nguyen Dình Bac equalized in the 16th and Vietnam went ahead through Pham Tuan Hai’s goal in the 33rd.

Japan recovered when Minamino, who is now at Monaco, evened the game again in the 45th.

Keito Nakamura made it 3-2 in first-half stoppage time and substitute Ayase Ueda extended Japan’s lead in the 85th.

Indonesia plays Iraq in Group D on Monday.

IRAN IMPRESSES

It took Karim Ansarifard two minutes to put Iran ahead against its Palestinian opponents on the way to a 4-1 rout in Al-Rayyan.

Shoja Khalilzadeh added another in the 12th and Mehdi Ghayedi made it 3-0 in the 38th.

But the loudest cheers of the game came when Palestinian player Tamer Seyam pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage time.

Sardar Azmoun made it 4-1 10 minutes after the break and, despite creating a host of chances in the second half, Iran could not add to its lead.

Palestinian player Mohammed Saleh was shown a red card for a professional foul on Azmoun in stoppage time, but that was downgraded to yellow after a video review.

Hong Kong's Philip Chan Siu Kwan scored the 1,000th goal in the history of the Asian Cup, but his team still fell to a 3-1 defeat against United Arab Emirates.

Chan briefly evened the score in the Group C game four minutes into the second half after Sultan Adil had given UAE the lead from the penalty spot in the 34th.

But it took just three minutes for UAE to regain the advantage through Zayed Sultan.

Substitute Yahya Al Ghassani struck in the fifth minute of time added on to complete the win against a Hong Kong team that is the lowest ranked in the tournament at 150th in the FIFA standings. (AP)