Egypt secured a place in the 2024 Olympic men’s football semifinals after winning 5-4 on penalties over Paraguay.
The quarter-final match at the Orange Velodrome stadium on Saturday morning IST. Paraguay had taken the lead through Diego Gomez before being replied by Egypt through Ibrahim Adel so that the score was 1-1 in normal time, as reported by the official website of the 2024 Olympics.
This is the first time Egypt has qualified for the 2024 Olympics football semifinals after being stopped in the quarterfinals at the previous edition of the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Paraguay failed to repeat its best achievement in Olympic football like in 2004 when it won the silver medal.
Paraguay and Egypt both played cautiously in the first half.
In the 24th minute, Egyptian midfielder Mahmoud Sabar fired a shot from distance. However, the ball went wide of the Paraguayan goal.
Diego Gomez opened the scoring for Paraguay in the 29th minute. His free kick was straight at the Egyptian goalkeeper.
Egypt created a golden opportunity in the 31st minute. Taking advantage of Faisal’s pass, Mahmoud Saber’s unguarded shot was still saved by Paraguay goalkeeper Fernandez.
Paraguay responded through Marcelo Perez’s shot from a tight angle in the 45+1 minute. Fortunately, the shot was still blocked and only ended up as a corner.
Until the first half ended, the score 0-0 between Egypt vs Paraguay remained.
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Mohamed Elneny also came close to breaking through Paraguay’s goal ten minutes after the second half began. Taking advantage of Adel’s pass, Elneny unleashed a long-range shot that went just wide of the right side of Paraguay’s goal.
Osama Faisal almost opened the scoring for Egypt in the 64th minute. Taking advantage of a clearance that turned towards the Paraguay goal, Faisal immediately shot the ball, but it was still blocked.
Paraguay finally managed to break the deadlock through Diego Gomez’s goal in the 71st minute. Taking advantage of a measured through ball from Enciso, Diego Gomez passed the Egyptian defender and fired a shot that the goalkeeper failed to stop, making the score 1-0 for Paraguay.
Saber almost equalized with a powerful shot in the 74th minute. However, Fernandez was alert to block Saber’s powerful shot from outside the penalty box and only resulted in a corner kick.
Egypt played relentlessly and the result was an equalizer in the 88th minute. Ibrahim Adel made the score 1-1 after utilizing a pass from Zizo. Until the second half ended, the score 1-1 remained so the match continued into extra time.
Egypt had a penalty appeal in the 94th minute after an Egyptian player was deemed to have been fouled in the penalty box during a corner kick, but the referee did not point to the spot after consulting VAR.
Egypt dominated the game with short passes, while Paraguay relied on quick counterattacks.
Until the end of extra time, the score did not change so it continued to a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, all Egyptian kickers were able to score. Meanwhile, one Paraguayan kicker failed to put the ball into the goal. Egypt won 5-4 in the penalty shootout and secured a step to the semifinals.
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