U-20 World Cup: Egypt keep hopes alive after late drama

Omar Khedr’s excellent free kick in stoppage time kept Egypt’s hopes alive at the U-20 World Cup with a 2-1 victory over hosts Chile in a sensational conclusion to Group A on Friday.

The Aston Villa winger came on as a halftime substitute and curled in a free kick deep into second half stoppage time to complete a dramatic victory for the Young Pharaohs, who were on the verge of elimination from the tournament. After a free kick was awarded, Khedr was initially waived away by his teammates and slammed the ball down in frustration before the coach overruled the players to have Khedr take the decisive set piece.

Khedr placed his effort perfectly, leaving three teams in Group A tied on three points each behind group winners Japan, who defeated New Zealand in the other match played simultaneously. With Egypt, Chile and New Zealand all tied on points, goal difference and goals scored in the matches played between them, the positions of the teams came down to Fair Play rules which leaves Chile in second place due to having the least bookings.

Egypt finish in third place and will now need to wait to see if they will advance as one of the four best third place teams from the six groups. New Zealand finish last place in the group and are eliminated.

But it looked like the North African side was surely going to be eliminated when Javier Carcamo put Chile ahead in the first half. However, a revival from the Egyptian side after halftime saw Khedr set up Al Ahly defender Ahmed Abdin for the equalizer with a header from Khedr’s corner kick.

Egypt will now need to wait and see how the results from the other groups go. In Group B, which also concluded on Friday, South Korea finished in third place with four points which is more than Egypt. So there remains plenty of suspense for the Egyptian team and its supporters to see if they will qualify for the Round of 16.