Ten-man Egypt have crashed out of AFCON 2023 at the hands of DR Congo on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra-time at the Laurent Pokou stadium in San Pedro on Sunday night.
DR Congo won 8-7 on penalties to send the seven-time champions, who finished as runners-up in Cameroon two years ago, packing at the round of 16 stage.
Both sides had drawn all group matches to qualify for this round and required the lottery of penalties after playing out another stalemate.
Machuk Elia put DR Congo ahead on 37 minutes but Egypt restored parity on the stroke of halftime via Musta Mohamed’s penalty awarded by VAR for a foul in the penalty area.
There were no more goals from both sides and DR Congo failed to capitalize on an Egypt red card in extra-time, the Pharaohs forcing penalties.
Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Gabaski did not save one penalty but hit the post with his on the 17th kick, before DR Congo’s goalkeeper Lionel Mpazi converted his penalty to send the central Africa nation into the quarter-finals for the first time since 2017.
The Leopards will meet Guinea, slayers of Equatorial Guinea, in the quarter-final on Friday, February 2.
