DOUALA (CAMEROON), JAN 27: Mohamed Salah buried the decisive penalty as Egypt beat Ivory Coast 5-4 in a shootout to reach the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations on Wednesday.
Equatorial Guinea followed suit to beat Mali 6-5 on penalties, but in a far more chaotic shootout.
Both Equatorial Guinea and Mali missed two of their first five spot kicks, and Mali defender Falaye Sacko eventually had the 16th penalty of the shootout saved by Equatorial Guinea’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Jesús Owono.
There was then a VAR check to make sure Owono hadn’t come off his line too early before the upset was confirmed and Equatorial Guinea’s players could race away to a group of their fans in the stadium to celebrate.
Both games ended 0-0 after extra time and the round of 16 ended without a goal from open play.
The quarterfinals of the African Cup are set: Burkina Faso vs. Tunisia, Senegal vs. Equatorial Guinea, Gambia vs. host Cameroon and Egypt vs. Morocco.
For Egypt, Salah sent his spot kick into the bottom right corner and then ran off and jumped onto the back of Egypt substitute goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal for his celebrations.
Egypt set up a North African derby against the Moroccans.
Egypt is a record seven-time African champion but hasn’t won the Cup of Nations since 2010, when Salah was a teenager.
He made his debut for his country the year after. Salah lost in the final with Egypt in 2017.
Both teams had clear-cut chances at the Japoma Stadium in Douala on Wednesday. (AP)
