Fifa Arab Cup: Egypt struggle without Mohamed Salah after battling past Lebanon

Morocco and Algeria both claim 4-0 wins inn their opening matches

Mohamed Afsha celebrates after scoring for Egypt against Lebanon in the Fifa Arab Cup at the Al Thumama Stadium. AP

Egypt dominated Lebanon in their first Fifa Arab Cup match on Thursday but could only claim a 1-0 win, bringing in to sharp focus the absence of their captain and star player Mohamed Salah.

Egypt controlled the game with more than two thirds of the possession and had 17 shots, eight of them on target. However, they needed a 71st-minute penalty from Mohamed Afsha to break the deadlock and earn all three points against a Lebanon side ranked 49 places below them.

Like many of the Europe-based players eligible to compete in the Arab Cup, Salah has remained with his club Liverpool, for whom he has been in mesmerising form this season with a Premier League-leading 11 goals and eight assists, so his presence for Egypt would likely have made this a much more comfortable victory.

In the day's first game, Algeria got their campaign up and running with a comfortable 4-0 win over Sudan at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.

Baghdad Bounedjah opened the scoring in the 11th minute before the Al Sadd forward doubled his side's lead a quarter of an hour later. That second goal kickstarted a blitz of Algeria goals as the north African team scored again two minutes before the break and one minute after the restart, courtesy of defender Djamel Benlamri and midfielder Hillal Soudani.

Morocco were equally prolific in their victory Palestine. Defender Mohamed Nahiri got the rout underway just after the half hour mark, before winger Abdelilah Hafidi helped himself to a brace in the second half. Centre-back Badr Benoun completed the scoring three minutes from time.

With the first round of matches completed on Wednesday, the Arab Cup resumes on Friday, with the UAE aiming for successive wins when they take on Mauritania.