Egypt wins Historic 2019 Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations 

Egypt is champions of 2019 Total U-23 Africa cup of Nations, they defeated Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 on extra time at the Cairo international stadium to claim their first title in the third edition of the tournament. On the other match of the day, South Africa won Ghana 6-5 on penalties after playing out a 2-2 draw on a regular time to win the third-place match. This means hosts (Egypt), Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa have all qualified for Men’s Olympic football tournament in Tokyo 2020 for finishing first, second and third.  

Egypt joins Gabon and Nigeria on the list of countries to have ever won the Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. 

Historic winners of the Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations:

Gabon- 2011

Nigeria – 2015

Egypt – 2019

 The pharaohs were ruthless on their road to the final – they defeated Mali, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. Egypt maintained this momentum against Cote d’Ivoire in the final. Karim Iraky scored for Egypt just after 37 minutes into the game, Aboubakar Doumbia equalized for the Elephants a minute from the end of the normal time. But on the 116th minute, skipper Ramadan Sobhy scored the winner for Egypt. 

Ramadan Sobhy sent a calling cross which El Iraky reacted well too with a scorcher to give Egypt the lead in the first half. 

Cote d’Ivoire showed character, threw everything in attack after the break, but they had to wait till the last minute to grab the equalizer. Substitute Aboubakar Doumbia sent the game to extra time after scoring a few minutes from his introduction on the pitch.

In the extra time, both Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire had their chances. Egypt’s talisman Sobhy scored from a rebounded shot (from Cote d’Ivoire’s keeper) played by substitute Ahmed Rayan to crown the pharaohs the winners of this year’s edition of Total U-23 Africa cup of nations.