The injured Mohamed Salah watched from the stands as Egypt played out a dazzling 2-2 draw with Cape Verde at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday, at Abidjan’s Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium.
It is a third consecutive stalemate that was enough to clinch a spot in the last 16.
Cape Verde had already secured first place in Group B and were on course to make it three wins from as many games when Gilson Tavares Benchimol put them ahead just before half-time.
But substitute Mahmoud Trezeguet equalised five minutes after the restart and Mostafa Mohamed lobbed in a brilliant stoppage-time goal for Egypt which was confirmed after a VAR check ruled out a handball.
It was not the winner, with Bryan Teixeira scoring Cape Verde’s second goal nine minutes into added time.
Egypt, the record seven-time African champions who have not won the title since 2010, will now head to San-Pedro for a last-16 tie on Sunday.
However, Salah will miss that game and there are doubts as to whether the Egypt captain will play any part again in Ivory Coast.
The Egyptian Football Association announced on Sunday that he would return to Liverpool after this match to continue treatment on the hamstring injury he suffered in last Thursday’s 2-2 draw with Ghana.
They said he would return to the squad for the semi-finals should Egypt get that far, but the player’s agent on Monday cast doubt on such a possibility.
“Mohamed’s injury is more serious than first thought and he will be out for 21-28 days, and not two games,” Ramy Abbas Issa wrote on X.
