Salah seals Egypt win against holders Ivory Coast to reach AFCON 2025 semis

Egypt set up semifinal meeting with Senegal at 2025 Africa Cup of Nations by beating Ivory Coast 3-2 in thriller.Published On 10 Jan 2026Mohamed Salah scored, and Egypt eliminated the defending champions, Ivory Coast, to move into the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semifinals with a 3-2 victory.Liverpool forward Salah nabbed his fourth goal of the tournament – Egypt’s third of the game – in the 52nd minute of Saturday’s encounter, and the Pharaohs needed it, as Ivory Coast threatened to twice come back from two goals down.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4‘I didn’t set out to break records’: Pakistan’s first female MMA fighterlist 2 of 4India-Bangladesh tensions rock cricket, as sport turns diplomatic weaponlist 3 of 4Milano Cortina Winter Olympics threatened by Cloudflare funding withdrawallist 4 of 4Bangladesh cricket ‘affected’ by off-field tensions ahead of T20 World Cupend of listEgypt, however, held on in Agadir despite relentless Ivorian pressure, and booked a semifinal date with 2021 champions Senegal in Tangier on Wednesday.Ivory Coast had a woeful start, as Franck Kessie lost the ball in the midfield after a poor touch and Odilon Kossounou fell over instead of cutting out Emam Ashour’s ball for Omar Marmoush, who scored in the fourth minute.Ramy Rabia produced a brilliant block to preserve the lead, and then scored himself with a header from a corner in the 32nd.Ivory Coast finally pulled one back five minutes before the break, when Ahmed Abou El Fotouh bundled in a dangerous Yan Diomande free kick, which Kossounou headed on.Egypt’s Mohamed Salah scores their third goal against Ivory Coast [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]Salah restored Egypt’s two-goal cushion early in the second half, when Rabia caught the Ivorian defence out with a long ball for Ashour, who set up Salah with the outside of his boot.Guela Doue pulled another one back with his heel in a goalmouth scramble, after goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy clawed the ball away in the 73rd, but the equaliser never came.