Own-goal heartache for Egypt as Tunisia snatch place in Fifa Arab Cup final

Amr El Solia heads into his own net deep into injury-time at Stadium 974 in Doha

Tunisia qualified for the final of the Fifa Arab Cup after defeating Egypt in dramatic fashion in Doha on Wednesday night.

The tournament’s inaugural winners, the highest ranked team in Qatar, sealed a spot in the showpiece deep into injury-time at Stadium 974, when Egypt captain Amr El Solia headed into his own goal as the match finished 1-0.

Tunisia, champions of the competition in 1963, will face in the final either hosts Qatar or Algeria, who meet one another later on Friday.

In an albeit cagey first-half, Tunisia should have taken the lead after five minutes. Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri’s outswinging corner was met on the six-yard box by Montassar Talbi only for the defender to power his header over the crossbar when totally unmarked. Talbi was making his first appearance of the tournament.

Egypt, meanwhile, were made to wait until after the half-hour for their first real attempt. In the 34th minute, defender Ahmed Hegazi struck a fierce drive from the edge of the Tunisia penalty area that flew straight at goalkeeper Mouez Hassen.

Just before half-time, Egypt’s Marwan Hamdy miscontrolled a centre when right in front of Hassen. His blushes were spared, though, when the referee’s assistant raised his flag to signal for an offside earlier in the move.

The match threatened to turn on 58 minutes when Tunisia were awarded a penalty. Substitute Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane went down under a challenge from Hegazi and the referee pointed to the spot, yet VAR quickly overruled the decision. As well it should have: there had been no real contact.

With 15 minutes remaining, Egypt looked poised to finally score. A Mohamed Drager mistake allowed Hamdy to pounce but, just as he was about to shoot and with only Hassen to beat, teammate Mostafa Fathi snatched at the chance himself. The substitute fired well over.

Then, two minutes out from the final whistle, Tunisia’s Seifeddine Jaziri somehow headed over from a corner. The tournament’s leading scorer — he had four goals to that point — had spurned an even greater chance than Talbi all the way back at the beginning of the game.

It did not matter, however, for Tunisia stole it right at the death. With 95 minutes on the clock, Naim Sliti swung in a free-kick, which El Solia glanced into his own net.