Egypt 2-1 Nigeria: Zizo leads hosts to win before AFCON

Zizo got two assists as Egypt earned a 2-1 friendly win over Nigeria at Cairo International Stadium on Tuesday, in their final match ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Both sides were without their talismanic figures, with Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen not included in the squads, but Egypt found a way to clinch the victory.

After a slow start to the game, Egypt dominated proceedings and found the breakthrough 28 minutes in when Zizo teed up Mahmoud Saber in the middle of the box, and he hit the back of the net with a right-footed effort 28 minutes in.

The hosts continued to dominate with Emam Ashour missing a glorious chance to double their lead after brilliant individual play, but he could not hit the target.

And that cost them on the stroke of half-time as a Zaidu Sanusi free-kick was not dealt with by Egypt, and Chidozie Awaziem was on hand to turn it back into the net.

However, Egypt started the second half strongly and restored their lead just seven minutes after the break. Zizo was once again the orchestrator as he picked out Mostafa Mohamed, who got a stroke of luck as it flew through Stanley Nwabali’s gloves.

Nigeria’s attempts to find another equaliser barely troubled Egypt, as they continued to struggle without Osimhen on the pitch.

Data Debrief: No Salah, no problem for Egypt

Salah has been in the headlines in the build-up to AFCON, for both on and off the pitch reasons, but without him, Egypt still managed to find a way to win.

And that is all down to Zizo, who racked up two assists, taking his total for his country to six, having racked up four previously. It was his first time getting more than one in a single game.