CAF U-23 African Cup of Nations: Egypt hold Nigeria to 2-2 draw

Sloppy defending came back to hurt Nigeria at the CAF Under-23 African Cup of Nations Wednesday when they surrendered a 2-0 lead and barley survived an Egyptian onslaught in their second group B at the Caroline Faye Stadium M'bour Senegal.

Nigeria dominated from the start and had the chances of scoring many goals as the fiery Egyptians did not play well. 

But at the end, it became a game of two halves with Nigeria scoring two goals in the first half and surrendered their lead for the Egyptians to score two in the second half.

They dominated and Nigeria merely survived being beaten. In the 21st minute Egyptian captain Ramy Abdel Aziz Moustafa handled the ball in the box and Oghenekaro Etebo stepped up to tuck the ball in. Egpyt keeper Mossad Awad Mossad cursed himself as he was unable to stop the ball that brushed past his fingers.

It was like comedy of errors as the Egyptians once again handled the ball in the box in the 30th minute.

Despite protests by the Egyptians, Cameroon referee Antoine Essouma, stood his ground and pointed to the stop. 

Etebo this time around sent Mossad the wrong way.

After the break the Egyptians fought back aggressively kicking and pushing. They were rewarded in the 47th minute, when Karim Hassan out-paced the Nigerian defenders and sent a cross, which was headed in by Ahmed Ramadan Sobhy.

That goal spurred on the Egyptians who punished the Nigerian defenders with penetrating passes. In the 52nd minute, Amaefule Chizoba deflected the ball into his own net to give Egyptians the much needed respite.

Algeria defeated Mali 2-0 to top the group with four points same points as Nigeria. Nigeria's last match is against Algeria while Mali play Egypt. The matches would be played by 4pm.