Afcon 2023: Mohamed Salah saves the day for Egypt as Mozambique denied famous win

You can measure Mohamed Salah’s tantalising, frustrating relationship with the Africa Cup of Nations in tiny details, many of them single, erratic bounces of the ball. Bad pitches have been an ongoing obstacle, the playing surfaces in two of his previous three expeditions to the tournament a blight although they were often also a stimulus that showed how resourceful Salah can be in adapting his slick, quick game when conditions impede it.

On Sunday the bounce of the ball, a ricochet off the inside of a goalpost and over the Mozambique goal-line from a Salah penalty, went hugely in his favour, and Egypt’s. With that injury-time equaliser for 2-2, an outcome as headline-making as any in Salah’s Afcon saga was averted.

Here’s some context for the shock 2-1 lead Mozambique held going into stoppage time at Abidjan’s Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium. The southern Africans have never won a match at an Afcon. In 12 games through four previous finals tournaments they had claimed a total of just two points.

Yet here they were, responding to a very early Egypt lead with two cleverly worked goals within three second-half minutes, the first a firm header, the second a smooth counter-attack. More context for the shock value of that turnaround: In Salah’s 18-game Afcon odyssey, he had only once previously been part of an Egypt team that conceded twice in a match. That was in the 2017 final, a 2-1 defeat to Cameroon and one of two finals where Salah has ended up with a silver medal.

The absence of an African title hurts the most celebrated African player of his generation. Salah has Premier League and Uefa Champions League titles, part of his full complement of prizes during his superb Liverpool career. But with Egypt, there have been