Egypt brush aside Ethiopia to put one foot in WC finals

Egypt secured a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Ethiopia in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualification (Group A) match played at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday night.

The win saw the Pharaohs maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Group A standings with three games left. Egypt will qualify for the World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and USA if they defeat Burkina Faso away on September 9.

Walia Ibex, on the other hand, are on the brink of failing to qualify for the World Cup as they are placed fifth in the standings with six points. Ethiopia will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they take on Sierra Leone away on September 9.

The Pharaohs dominated the match from the start and they were awarded a penalty after Mahmoud Trezeguet was fouled in the box. Mohamed Salah then netted his 61st international goal from the spot-kick to hand Egypt a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute.

🏟️ 7 games
✅ 6 wins
🤝 1 draw
🚫 0 losses
⚽️ 16 goals

The Pharaohs have been a force to reckon at the African #WCQ. 🇪🇬👏 pic.twitter.com/nsyCujN4h8

— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) September 5, 2025

Pressure mounted on Walia Ibex and one of the Ethiopian players handled the ball in the box in first-half stoppage time. This resulted in a second penalty for the hosts, and this time Omar Marmoush converted it to hand Egypt a 2-0 lead heading into the halftime break.

The seven-time African champions did not take their foot off the pedal after the restart as they continued to pile pressure on Walia Ibex's shaky defence. Trezeguet had a chance to score his sixth goal in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the 58th minute, but he missed the target.

It was end-to-end stuff in the latter stages of the match, and Ethiopia had a chance to pull one back in the 84th minute, but goalkeeper Mohamed Shenawy pulled off an amazing save to deny Chernet Gugsa, and ultimately, the game ended in a 2-0 win in favour of Egypt.

Egypt (2) 2 (Salah 41', Marmoush 45'+2)

Ethiopia 0

Egypt: El-Shenawy, Hany, Rabia, Hamdi, Sobhi, Zizo (Adel 63'), Fathy, Trezeguet (M. Mohamed 79'), Faisal (Saber 79'), Marmoush (Lasheen 63'), M. Salah (Dunga 88').

Ethiopia: Nura, Tekeste (Sherefa 46'), James, Baye, Kassaye, Belay, Markneh, Tonjo (Reshid 73'), Hamid (Gugsa 73'), Desta (Abera 82'), Gezahegn (Wolde 82')