Egypt put on a dominant display against Malawi to emerge 2-0 victors in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Friday night.
Rui Vitoria's side looked comfortable after Mohamed Salah opened the scoring midway through the first half and an own-goal from Charles Petro on the stroke of halftime sealed the win.
The Pharaohs moved to the top of Group D ahead of the clash between Ethiopia and Guinea later that same night, with the Flames dropping to third place.
Mo Salah stars for Egypt with a goal and an assist as they brush aside Malawi 2-0 in their #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 clash. pic.twitter.com/Y0NV3Z6teY
— SuperSport Football ?? (@SSFootball) March 24, 2023
The hosts were on top from the get-go and they signalled their intentions early on when Mohamed Abdelmonem hit the crossbar with a header from an eighth-minute free-kick.
After continuing to probe away at the opposition defence, they made the breakthrough on 20 minutes as Salah played Mohamed Hamdy into acres of space on the left and timed his run to perfection to convert the left-back's pass from 10 yards out.
Charles Thomu had to be alert to tip the ball over the crossbar on 24 minutes after Mohamed Hany mis-queued his cross from the right towards goal and the Pharaohs threatened once more in the 33rd minute when Omar Marmoush produced an exquisite touch to bring Ahmed Hegazi's aerial ball under control before blazing over from the right side of the box.
Malawi would have done well to go into the break just one goal down but they conceded again in stoppage time following a mistake on the left side of defence, with the ball coming out to Marmoush, whose shot from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection off Petro and looped over Thomu into the back of the net.
LARGELY UNTROUBLED
The Flames looked to get more physical in the second half as they made some robust challenges early on in a bid to impose themselves on the game.
But Egypt were soon on the attack again and Mahmoud Hamada fired wide of the right post from just outside the area on 50 minutes after linking up with Marmoush on the left, while Abdelmonem directed a header straight at Thomu from a corner on the right on the hour mark.
Hany did superbly well to keep the ball in play on the right in the 67th minute before carrying the ball to the byline and crossing to the back post, where Marmoush steered a header straight at a grateful Thomu.
Malawi showed more attacking intent in the second half but Mohamed El Shenawy remained largely untroubled and Gabadinho Mhango wasted a good chance in the 80th minute when he blasted a free-kick well wide of the near post from 25 yards out on the left.
The woodwork came to the visitors' rescue on 85 minutes after Mostafa Mohamed saw his header came back off the bar from Zizo's cross and Salah was unable to beat Thomu on the follow-up.
Ahmed Abdelkader almost added a third late on when he escaped his marker on the left byline and got off a shot from an acute angle that Thomu saved with an outstreched leg.
Egypt (2) 2 (Salah 20', Petro OG 45+1')
Malawi 0
Egypt: M. El Shenawy, O. Galal, A. Hegazi, M. Abdelmonem, M. Hamdy, T. Hamed (H. Fathy 81'), M. Hamada (E. Ashour 68'), Zizo (M. Attia 87'), M. Salah, O. Marmoush (A. Abdelkader 81'), M. Mohamed (Kahraba 87').
Malawi: C. Thomu, C. Petro, L. Chaziya, D. Chembezi, G. Chirwa, M. Mhone (C. Idana 77'), J. Banda, C. Chirwa, F. Madinga (P. Banda 46', Y. Chester 60'), K. Muyaba (S. Davie 46'), G. Mhango.