Asian Cup Australia breaks the record with a brace against India

Australia achieved a well-deserved victory over India 2-0 on Saturday in the first round of the second group competitions of the Asian Football Cup in Qatar.

At the Ahmed Bin Ali World Cup Stadium, in front of a crowd of 36,000, most of whom supported the Indian team, Jackson Irvine and Jordan Boss scored the goals of the Australian team in the 50th and 73rd minutes.

The match witnessed a precedent in the Asian Cup finals, because Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita had the honor of being the first woman to officiate a match in the continental finals.

Australia raised its score to three points at the top of Group Two, while India remained without a score.

The group also includes the teams of Syria and Uzbekistan, who will meet later today at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.

“Good Omens”: Facing Mozambique is Egypt’s way to winning the African Cup of Nations

Egypt will begin its matches in the African Cup of Nations tomorrow, Sunday, in Abidjan, against Mozambique, a team that the Egyptians consider a “good omen,” as they won the title three times when they faced them previously.

Egypt competes with Mozambique, Ghana and Cape Verde in the second group.

The Egyptian national team, champion of Africa seven times (a record), when it faces Mozambique at the “Felix Ouvet-Boigny” stadium in Abidjan, seeks to secure the three points to avoid any complicated calculations before playing a classic match against strong Ghana next Thursday.

The Egyptian national team, led by Portuguese coach Rui Vitoria, includes a strong squad led by Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, Nantes’ French top scorer, Mostafa Mohamed, and German Eintracht Frankfurt player, Omar Marmoush, as well as strong names such as Arsenal’s English midfielder, Mohamed Elneny, and the stars of the local league, especially players from the champion Al-Ahly club. Africa, led by goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy and young defender Mohamed Abdel Moneim.

Salah, who led Egypt to the 2018 World Cup for the first time after an absence of 28 years, is seeking to compensate for his loss in the continental final twice in 2017 and early 2022 to Cameroon and Senegal, respectively, and lead his country to its eighth title.

For this, he must first win his group, which also includes Ghana (4 titles) and Cape Verde, to ensure a relatively easy confrontation in the 16-final with the third in one of the groups.

- Mozambique is a good omen for Egypt

Egypt is considered a major force in African football, having won the title seven times, including three in a row (2006-2008-2010), but it returned and missed three consecutive editions (2012-2013-2015), before qualifying for the tournament again and losing the final twice in the last. Three championships.

Regarding that painful experience, winger Mahmoud Hassan (Trezeguet) said, “It is really difficult to lose two finals, in 2017 and 2022. It is painful, but we will try again to get the cup.”

The Turkish Trabzonspor player continued in statements published on the African Union website, "We must have what we deserve, and we hope that luck will be on our side this time and that God will help us."

Egypt begins the African Cup with a team that Egyptians consider a good omen for winning the tournament.

Egypt won the title in 1986, 1998 and 2010, when it met Mozambique in the group stage, achieving three victories and scoring 6 goals with a white net.

Mozambique, which is participating in the African Cup for the fifth time in its history and the first since 2010, has never achieved victory, drawing twice and losing 10 times in 12 matches, contenting itself with scoring only 4 goals.