Mixed day for Salah as Egypt decimate Niger 6-0 in African Cup of Nations qualifiers

It was a day of mixed performances for Liverpool Mohammed Salah, who missed two penalties and scored two goals as well as Egypt, ran riot over Niger, demolishing them 6-0 in an African Cup of Nations qualifying match on Saturday.

There perhaps couldn’t have been a better start for Egypt as they won a first-minute penalty but much to everyone’s surprise, Salah failed to slot in into the net as Niger stopper Kasaly Daouda saved the effort.

But the inevitability of Egypt scoring couldn’t be stopped as the African giants soon found themselves with a two-goal lead in the bag with goals from Marwan Mohsen and Ayman Ashraf.

Interestingly, it was Salah once again who missed another penalty but this time, he made sure that he didn’t go back without a goal from his shot as he netted one through a rebound, which gave Egypt a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the half-time.

Salah was at the centre of action once again and this time he set up a goal for Salah Mohsen to take Egypt 4-0 up. He himself scored the fifth of the night for his country before Arsenal’s Mohammed Elneny sealed off the game with his first and the team’s sixth goal to complete the rout.

This match also signalled a good start for manager Javier Aguirre, who also had managed teams like Mexico and Japan. Aguirre recently penned down a four-year deal with the African giants.

Despite this huge victory, Egypt trail Tunisia who top the table, having secured a 1-0 win in a first round match over the seven-time African champions 15 months ago.