Egypt became the first team to reach the round of 16 of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco following a hard-fought 1-0 over South Africa at the Adrar Stadium in Agadir on Friday.

Mohamed Salah scored the only goal of the match in the 45th minute, converting from the penalty spot to give Egypt the lead before the Pharaohs were reduced to 10 men just before the halftime break after right-back Mohamed Hany was shown a second yellow card for a stamp, followed by a red.

South Africa’s Bafana Bafana vehemently protested for their own penalty late in the second half when Yasser Ibrahim appeared to handle the ball inside the box but neither the referee nor the VAR awarded the kick.

The victory meant that Egypt are through to the knockout phase of the AFCON with one match to spare following the dramatic 2-1 win over Zimbabwe in their opening game of the tournament.

“I’m very happy for the result, for sure. It was a tough game, they dominated most of the time. It’s a team that can keep the ball for a long time so I think we had a good gameplan, it worked,” Salah said after the game. 

“We walked away with the three points, it’s the most important thing. The atmosphere is incredible. Hopefully we can carry on like this.”

South Africa coach Hugo Broos said: “The penalty awarded to Egypt was ridiculous, really ridiculous. Hossam Hassan (Egypt coach) said to me after the game that he was surprised it was a penalty.”

Meanwhile, Angola and Zimbabwe settled for a 1-1 draw in the other Group B game at the Marrakech Stadium. Gelson Dala gave Angola the lead in the 24th minute but Knowledge Musona brought Zimbabwe back into the game just at the close of the first half.