Salah scores goal as Egypt rally to win against Zimbabwe at AFCON 2025

In their first match of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Morocco on Monday, Mohamed Salah came from behind to defeat Zimbabwe 2-1.

Egypt’s captain, who had won four straight games against Liverpool, fired home a left-footed effort in the 91st minute to give the seven-time champions a late lead after Zimbabwe had taken the lead in the first half.

Zimbabwe’s goal was under Egyptian control at the start of the 20th minute, but Prince Dube was the first to score.

Omar Marmoush, who equalized in the 64th minute, and talisman Salah, who had the final say in the Premier League, gave Egypt the victory.

Salah struggled to find his rhythm for the majority of the match at the Grande Stade d’Agadir and was in the spotlight after being let down by the Premier League champions after a fiery outburst. However, he won the match when it was important, putting Egypt in the lead of Group B after defeating Angola 2-1 earlier in Marrakech.

Egypt won the Cup of Nations by breaking a six-game losing streak over the last two years.

In the opening ten minutes, they created four solid chances for Zimbabwe, but they were in danger when Emmanuel Jalai fed the ball inside for Dube, who turned in control and headed his effort into the bottom left corner.

As a result of Daniel Msendami’s pace, Washington Navaya had a scrambled chance that Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy managed to gather before hurling it over the line.

Marmoush’s only effect

Marmoush scored a powerful solo goal in the 64th minute by picking up a long pass on the left wing before cutting inside and firing home with his right foot from a perfect angle.

We had a lot of chances without scoring early, but ultimately everything turned out well, according to Marmoush.

We maintained our positive outlook and won the match well. We can take lessons from tonight’s game.

Ahmed Zizo missed again after Mohamed Hamdy had provided a good chance to score him in the back post after heading home from Mohamed Hamdy’s warm cross, which was headed in the opposite direction.

Salah held off his marker to score the ball, heading it home for his first goal since early last month, keeping it level with Salah for the final three points.