Egypt-South Africa (1-0): saved by VAR and thanks to a goal from Salah, the Egyptians qualified for the eighth of the CAN

Time seemed interminable at the Stade Adrar in Agadir. For a total of thirteen long minutes, the Burundian referee Pacifique Ndabihawenimana of the match communicated with his video referees. A wait which finally allowed, after 102 minutes of play, Egypt to overcome South Africa and become the first nation to qualify for the round of 16 of the 2025 African Cup of Nations.

The tension rose a notch for the first time before the break. In a harmless duel, Mohamed Salah collapsed in the South African box, holding his face. The Liverpool striker received a small slap on the left eye from full-back Khuliso Mudau. A slight foul for a generous penalty awarded after a long moment of hesitation and use of video assistance, before a perfect transformation from Mo Salah (43rd).

A few minutes later, Al-Ahly’s Egyptian defender Mohamed Hany received a second yellow card, this time rather logical, and left his teammates at 10 in added time of the first period. In a glaring loss of authority, Pacifique Ndabihawenimana ended up blowing the half-time whistle in the middle of a confused scene, the tone being largely raised between the two benches.

A hand in the area not punished

Upon returning from the locker room, it was repeated with a new intervention from the VAR. At the hour mark, Khuliso Mudau, again, was brought down in the area by the Egyptian goalkeeper. But the assistant judge signals an unclear offside at the start of the action: the video referees examine the situation and end up confirming the decision after two minutes of analysis.

Hossam Hassan’s players then seemed to control the debates before getting a huge scare in the final moments of the match. In the 87th minute, the South Africans won a free kick at the edge of the area for a handball from Yasser Ibrahim.

Problem: the Egyptian defender seems to have touched the ball on the line of the area, synonymous with a penalty according to the IFAB laws of the game. After seven minutes of unbearable waiting, Mr. Pacifique Ndabihawenimana ultimately considers that the hand is not even penalized and cancels the free kick after viewing the video. Bafana Bafana can’t believe their eyes and ends up losing.

Defeated Zimbabwe and therefore South Africa, the Egyptians qualified directly for the round of 16 and even secured first place in the group before their last group stage match against Zambia.