Egypt took the lead in the fourth minute at the Stade Adrar.

Cote d'Ivoire captain Franck Kessi lost the ball in midfield after a poor touch and Odilon Kossounou fell over instead of cutting out Emam Ashours pass for Omar Marmoush who exploited the blunders to slot home past the Ivorian goalkeeper Yahia Fofana.

Ramy Rabia doubled the advantage just after the half hour mark and though an Ahmed Fotouh own-goal halved the deficit in the 40th minute,Salah restoredthe two-goal cushion just after the restart.

We just fight for our country," said the 33-year-old. "And hopefully we will go through after the next game as well."

Morocco boss Regragui confirms Hakimi's return for Cup of Nations pool clash

Gula Dou's goal in the 73rd minute set up a grandstand finish but the Egyptians - hunting for a record-extending eighth Africa Cup of Nations title - held on to advance to a semi-final appointment with Senegal who beat them in the 2021 Cup of Nations final in Cameroon.

"Its a tough opponent, of course," said Salahof the clashon 14 January in Tangier. "But we will give our best.

The other semi-final on 14 January in Rabat pitshosts Moroccowith the 2023 beaten finalists Nigeria whocrushed Algeria 2-0on Saturday afternoon.

Victor Osimhen scored one goal and set up the other for Akor Adams against a lacklustre Algeria side who only shone in the final 15 minutes of the tie.

"There are a lot of young players who are featuring in their first Africa Cup of Nations," said Algeria skipper Riyad Mahrez after the defeat at the Grand Stade de Marrakech.

"They have to go through these type of games to improve. Nigeria have more players who have played in the tournament and they have played with their young generation a bit more than us.

"They deserved to go through," he added. "It's fine. We'll recover and look forward to theWorld Cup."

Originally published on RFI