2 March 2025 – Jamie Webber scored a wonder strike to secure a 1-1 draw for South Africa against Egypt in a first round African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier played at Free State Stadium on Sunday night.
The Egyptians had stunned the home crowd when Mohamed Hassan Hashem Abdelaal scored a beautiful goal in the 66th minute to take the lead in this tight contest.
But the USA-bound Webber had other ideas and equalised in equally devastating fashion to beat Egypt captain and goalkeeper Mahmoud Mohamed Kassem in the 80th minute to ensure a share of the spoils.
Coach Molefi Ntseki said he was happy with the performance of his players, even though the team did not get the outcome he wanted.
“The structure for me is everything because when you have the structure, it means everybody understands their roles and functions within the game, whether in possession or out of possession,” he said.
“The boys did very well in terms of performance, but the final result was not that pleasing knowing very well that we still have to go to Egypt in the second leg. We saw how they conducted themselves, especially after scoring, when they were playing for time. Personally, I’ve played too many games against Egypt in the junior teams and also in the senior teams.”
Egypt coach Wael Reyad said: “But we have many, many players who did not come with us because they had problems with their passports and papers, something like that. But we played with 15 or 16 players only. I told my players after the match, it was a very tough game because it was the first time for them to play for the national team.”
Ntseki and his team will return to Johannesburg on Monday where they will remain in camp until departure to Egypt on 6 March 2025. The Egyptians conceded that they were not looking forward to the long trip back home after such a tough contest against the South Africans.
The winner of this two-legged contest will proceed to the second round of the CHAN qualifiers to be played in May 2025.
