Egypt narrowly beat Zimbabwe in the first match of the 2025 African Cup of Nations Group, Coach: Many missed opportunities

Egypt won with great difficulty on the opening trip in the 2025 African Cup (Instagram/@egyptnt).

JAKARTA - Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah scored in injury time to give Egypt a 2-1 victory over Zimbabwe in the first match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) group on Tuesday, December 23, 2025 WIB.

Zimbabwe had taken the lead early in the match, but Manchester City's Omar Marmoush equalised in the second half before Salah scored to seal the victory for the seven-time African Cup of Nations champions.

The eighth title for Egypt will extend their record and give Mohamed Salah his first title. The 33-year-old Liverpool star has never won this African major tournament.

However, Egypt's journey at the start of the tournament was quite difficult until they had to secure three points at the end of the match against Zimbabwe. Coach Hossam Hassan also agreed because his team often wasted opportunities.

"We wasted some chances to score and we were unlucky. That's football. We were the better team throughout the game. The opening game is always difficult," said Hossam Hassan.

Salah became the team captain in his first appearance since November 26, 2025 when Liverpool lost to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.

Salah was involved in a heated argument with Liverpool manager Arne Slot ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations - where Salah was not included in the squad that departed to face Inter Milan in the Champions League - after saying in an interview that he felt the club had blamed him for their difficulties at the start of the season.

Meanwhile, in the course of the match, Egypt was surprised by a goal from Prince Dube in the 20th minute when he received a cross from Emmanuel Jalai with his first touch. He turned to head the ball past Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy with his next touch.

Salah tried to lift his team-mates, but they were dealt another blow shortly afterwards when Emam Ashour was injured. The tears of the midfielder showed that his tournament was over just as it had begun.

Egypt had chances through Marmoush but his shot was still saved by Arubi. Trezeguet was shown a yellow card for diving in an attempt to get a penalty, then Salah, Marmoush, and Mohamed all missed the target before halftime.

The match continued in the same way until finally Marmoush managed to score a goal from a difficult angle in the 64th minute, before Salah's winning goal in the 90th+1 minute gave Egypt three points in Group B.