Egypt trample on Elephants

Egypt upset favourites Ivory Coast 4-1 to seal their place in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Egypt set up Cameroon final

Egypt upset favourites Ivory Coast 4-1 to seal their place in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Goals from Ahmed Fathi, Amr Zaki (2) and Mohamed Aboutriaka gave the holders a convincing victory to set up a final meeting with Cameroon. Egypt got off to a flying start when Fathi's deflected shot somehow found its way into the net after 12 minutes. Ivory Coast laid siege to the Egypt goal and Drogba was denied on the half hour mark when Essam Al Hadari was quickly off his line to block the Chelsea striker's effort. Ivory Coast suffered a blow before the break when goalkeeper Boubacar Barry was forced off with an injury with Stephan Loboue replacing him between the sticks. Drogba was denied an equaliser right on the stroke of half-time when his towering header was kept out by Al Hadari. The Chelsea man really should have scored three minutes after the break when he found himself unmarked inside the box, but he directed his header too close to Al Hadari. Egypt doubled their lead against the run of play on 62 minutes when Zaki powered his header in off the underside of the crossbar. Ivory Coast reduced the arrears a minute later with a superb long-range strike from Abdulkader Keita. However, Egypt restored their two-goal cushion on 67 minutes when Zaki netted his second goal of the contest. Egypt sealed the victory in the closing seconds when they caught Ivory Coast on the counter attack with Mohamed Zidan squaring the ball for Aboutriaka to smash the ball high into the net.