Egypt finished in fourth place as the curtains fell on their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), their hope of winning the title for the first time in 15 years ruined in embarrassing fashion.
Egypt couldn’t even get third place as consolation after losing to Nigeria 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw in regulation time. Egypt’s two most famous players, Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, had their shots saved in the final indignity.
The killer blow, though, was losing 1-0 to Senegal in the semi-finals, the lone, winning goal scored with 12 minutes remaining by Sadio Mane who has become Egypt’s bogeyman in recent years.
Played in Tangier on 14 January, the contest was largely one-sided, with Senegal pushing all the right buttons: possession, territory and tempo, from start to finish.
Egypt had an organised defence but offered little attacking threat, not taking a single shot all regulation time. The Pharaohs did not earn their first corner kick until after the 80th minute, failed to attempt a single shot — on or off target — during the opening 78 minutes and, get this, registered their first shot on target, by Marmoush, in stoppage time (90+5’), comfortably saved by Edouard Mendy.
The breakthrough came when Lamine Camara’s initial effort was blocked and the ball fell to Mane who pounced from 20 yards with a grass-level shot that kept goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Shinnawi rooted to the spot.
Senegal survived a video assistant referee check for an offside against Nicolas Jackson earlier in the move and a handball claim against Mane.
Until that point, Egypt showed little ambition and relied heavily on long balls launched by their five defenders to somewhere in the vicinity of Marmoush and Salah. It was a tactic as simple as it gets: kick the ball 50 metres high in the air down field and whoever gets it, gets it. Neither Marmoush nor Salah hardly ever got it as they were consistently neutralised by Senegal’s organised and physical defence.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan threw on three forwards in a late, failed bid to find an equaliser.
The result capped a performance in which Senegal’s dominance was reflected not only in possession statistics (70-30) but also in their defensive solidity.
Hassan kept faith with the starting line-up that had beaten Cote d’Ivoire in the quarter-finals. Egypt again sat deep and looked to counter-attack, as they had against Cote d’Ivoire, but Senegal were well prepared and largely nullified that threat.
But in turn, despite dominating the ball, Senegal struggled to forge clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. And when danger arose, Al-Shinnawi came out for the ball with a safe pair of hands before Mane struck, proving yet again he is the man for the big occasion.
This marked the third occasion that the Senegal forward has got the better of Egypt in a high-stakes international match. Five years ago the West Africans beat the Pharaohs on penalties in the final of the 2021 AFCON and a few months later won on penalties in a play-off for the 2022 World Cup. Both times it was Mane who scored the winning spot kick.
Even if Egypt had beaten Nigeria on Saturday to salvage some pride, the playoff game, not just in AFCON but in many other championships, has become virtually meaningless down the years; there is a lack of interest in watching two deflated teams and nobody remembers who came third.
The one constant is that everybody remembers who wins a tournament.
In this AFCON, it wasn’t Egypt.
Some people might say that Egypt not winning the tournament or even reaching the final was a disappointment, but are ready to praise the team for reaching the semi-finals in the first place, considering they were not one of the favourites before the tournament began.
The team also pocketed $2.5 million in prize money for reaching the semi-finals.
But the loss in the semi-finals was more than a disappointment; it was, put bluntly, a failure.
Egypt are not some lowly minnow reaching the semi-finals after a fairy tale run. They are the record seven-time holder of the title and who arrived in Morocco openly targeting a first AFCON crown since 2010.
They also peaked at the right time, improving with every game and were excellent in the quarters against Cote d’Ivoire.
But Egypt’s lack of urgency and being too reliant on Salah and Marmoush, who were vastly outnumbered and kept in check by Senegal throughout the game, did them in.
Defence was their biggest weapon but the plan against Senegal this time backfired. Egypt’s players turned their biggest weapon onto themselves.
That Egypt failed to register a single shot on target until deep into stoppage time is a statistic that said it all. Somebody should tell the team that they missed 100 per cent of the shots they didn’t take.
The moment Egypt lost to Senegal the calls started in the media and on social media for Hassan’s resignation or termination, with the 2026 World Cup looming.
Thus far, there have been no official moves in that direction. In post-match press conferences after the loss to Senegal, Hassan did not blame his excessively cautious approach to the game but instead blamed mosquitos and accommodation. He said his players paid the price for what he described as a lack of fairness in the tournament schedule.
He pointed out that Senegal had an extra day’s rest after playing their quarter-final against Mali, on a Friday, while Egypt faced Cote d’Ivoire a day later.
Hassan, whose comments drew the ire of many circles in Morocco and Egypt, also argued that Egypt were required to travel from Agadir to Tangier, a journey of 790 km, for the semi-final, while Senegal were already based in Tangier.
But Hassan failed to say that in the round of 16 against Benin, Egypt had an extra day of rest and in the quarter-finals against Cote d’Ivoire Egypt also had a day extra to recuperate. Neither Benin nor Cote d’Ivoire complained.
As for the distance from Agadir to Tangier, Hassan and company did not take a camel or donkey cart.
They took a chartered flight.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 22 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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