AFCON Round of 16: Egypt vs DR Congo preview
Neither Egypt nor DR Congo head into the Round of 16 playing all that confidently. But this is tournament football, and the two drawing experts found a way into the knockout round. They are the only two second-place sides to earn only three points in the group-stage as they drew all three of their respective matches.
Of course, draws won’t cut-it in the knockout stages and one side will need to find the edge or risk the all-too-familiar penalty shootout.
The sides last faced each other in the group-stage of the 2019 AFCON tournament, where Egypt won 2-0 via Ahmed Elmohamady and Mohamed Salah first half goals. They last matched-up in a knockout game in the quarterfinals of the 2006 tournament. Egypt won the game 4-1 and eventually lifted the trophy.
DR Congo boast two AFCON titles while they come up against the winningest side in AFCON history.
Egypt and DR Congo meet tonight at 20:00 GMT to try to earn a place in the 2023 AFCON quarterfinals.
The case for Egypt
Egypt head into today’s Round of 16 match after surviving by the skin of their teeth. Egypt’s opening game against Mozambique required a late injury-time penalty scored by Salah to earn a point. They had to come back twice against Ghana to draw level. Their third group game featured much of the same – they came from behind to make it 1-1 and thought they had earned all three points in the third minute of injury time before Cape Verde tied it at 2-2 six minutes later.
If there’s one positive from their first three matches, it’s that Egypt can stage a comeback. They never seem fully out of a game. However, the seven-time AFCON winners are facing a side in the DR Congo who created similar problems and comebacks for themselves.
Get the latest updates from Marwan Attia in the press conference🎙️#egyptnt pic.twitter.com/MZTKXul0fg
— Egypt National Team (@EgyptNT_EN) January 27, 2024
Egypt will, of course, be without captain Salah as he recovers from the hamstring injury that forced him off just before halftime in the game against Ghana. As world-class as Salah is, his absence could allow for more freedom for Egypt’s other attacking players.
Mostafa Mohamed has been the Pharaohs standout player of the tournament so far. The Nantes forward scored in all three of their group-stage matches and played well with Omar Marmoush on his left.
All of Egypt’s 2021 AFCON knockout games required extra-time – with three of the four games going to a penalty shootout. Egypt also have their AFCON winning-pedigree and a winning head-to-head record against DR Congo on their side. It wouldn’t be surprising if the kings of AFCON found a way to eke out a win and move on to the quarterfinals.
The case for DR Congo
Despite not qualifying for the 2021 tournament, DR Congo reached the knockout stages of their three previous tournaments. They reached the quarterfinals in 2017 and came in third in 2015.
This time around, DR Congo had a similarly bumpy group-stage to Egypt, but defended well against Tanzania to keep a clean sheet. They also only allowed one goal when they faced North African powerhouse Morocco.
While Egypt have more firepower up-front, the Leopards are playing a more compact game. They only allowed two goals against them in their Group F games, as opposed to a whopping six allowed by Egypt’s defence in Group B. DR Congo’s only real error at the back led to Zambia’s lone goal on match-day one.
On the flip-side, DR Congo only managed to score two goals over the three matches. The first of these goals came from a Cédric Bakambu ball that Yoane Wissa tucked home against Zambia. In their game against Morocco, Bakambu missed from the penalty spot and it took Silas coming off the bench to save the day with an equaliser.
If DR Congo can get Wissa or Bakambu firing, these underdogs could find a way to surprise Egypt. Especially with a defence performing so well together, a single goal could be enough to make it to through.
