There are no underdogs in the Africa Cup of Nations. This resonated well with record champions Egypt as they needed a late penalty to draw the lowly-ranked Mozambique 2-2 at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium.Egypt were expected to make light work of Mozambique and register their fifth win over the Mambas as well as launch their bid for the eighth African title on a positive note.The Pharaos had the two-time African Player of the Year award winner Mohamed Salah to thank as his late penalty saved them the shame of losing to a team ranked 119 globally.##NAJAVA_MECA_7796026##With Egypt potentially losing 2-1, celebrated Kenyan referee Peter Waweru Kamaku, seated in the VAR booth, rightly spotted a foul committed by a Mozambican defender in the area in injury time and instructed the centre referee Beida Dahane to halt play for review of the action.Dahane would award a spot kick to Egypt and the first in the tournament after having a look at the incident on the monitor.Egypt, were fastest off the blocks as they took the lead in the second minute through Mostafa Mohamed who fired home from close range.AFCON 2023: Osimhen strikes first AFCON goal but not enough to beat Equatorial GuineaMohamed picked a loose ball in the box after Salah failed to connect the initial shot before driving it low and hard to the left corner.Considering that Mozambique had the lowest goal difference during the qualifying campaign, Egypt were expected to make their dominance count by adding more goals.However, Mozambique defended with grit and never appeared to be under pressure even when Egyptian forwards weaved their way to the box.AFCON 2023: The Fennecs are set to face Angola – and their painful pastThe Mambas restored parity in the 55th minute through Witiness Chimoio Joao Quembo who headed home a superb cross beating experienced goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy to the near post.Three minutes later, Clesio Bauque danced through the Egyptian defence before slotting past the well-exposed Shenawy to give Mozambique the lead.It is after conceding that Egypt committed numbers forward in a bid to salvage a point from the game. Their search bore fruit in the added minutes when the referee dished a penalty after VAR review.
