HURGHADA, Egypt — With the backing of their home crowd, Egypt secured their second straight victory of the CAF 2024 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations, in a result that subsequently ensured that they qualify for the knockout stages of the ongoing tournament.
The hosts comfortably cruised past Tanzania in a high scoring match that went 9–3 in favour of the Pharaohs who top Group A.
The heavy defeat ultimately ends Tanzania’s hopes of qualification to the next round as it follows their opening loss to Morocco.
Group A consisting of the hosts Egypt, Tanzania, Morocco as well as Ghana.
Group B features Senegal, Mozambique, Malawi and Mauritania.
Egypt got off to a flying start in Hurghada after they overcame Ghana 6–3 in the second match of the opening day of the continental edition.
Egypt, who finished runners-up in the last edition hosted in Mozambique are aiming to go all the way in front of their home fans with a resounding result that saw them go top of Group A ahead of Morocco who overcame Tanzania 4-3 in their opening match earlier in the day.
Egypt hosts the tournament for the second time after staging the 2018 edition where they finished third.
Egypt finished runners up at the last edition in Mozambique.
The CAF Beach Soccer competition was first played in 2015 in Roche Caiman, Seychelles where it was won by Madagascar.
The tournament makes a return to Egyptian shores after first being held there in 2018 where it was won by Senegal.
Winners and runners up of this year’s tournament will join Seychelles as the three African representatives at next year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to be held in Africa for the very first time.
Morocco, meanwhile, is well on course to qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament after securing their second win of Group A.
The North African nation, who is chasing a first ever finalist position and title, with their best finish being bronze in 2021 and 2022 easily, brushed aside Ghana 5-2 to secure their second victory of the group.
The second loss of the campaign sees Ghana languish at the bottom of Group A.
Morocco overcame Tanzania 4-3 in their opening fixture of the group in what was an evenly contested tie that eventually went the way of the North African nation.
Morocco was the first to secure victory at the Beach AFCON 2024 competition.
Following an action-packed encounter, it was the Moroccans who eventually emerged victorious with a closely contested 4-3 scoreline to temporarily secure top spot in the group.
It has been a dream start for Mauritania after they stunned African champions and tournament favourites, Senegal in a Group B opener.
A strong and confident start saw the debutants send shockwaves across the continent with a dominant display over the four-time CAF Beach Soccer AFCON champions in a match that concluded 5–2 in favour of Mauritania.
Senegal, who is aiming at extending their title record to five, came into the tie as strong favourite over the debutants who showed no sense of fear in their approach to the champions.
Senegal, meanwhile, secured their first win of the tournament after putting six past Malawi to earn a 6-1 win in Hurghada.
Following their disappointing start to the competition that saw them succumb to a 5-2 loss over debutants Mauritania, the wounded Lions of Teranga were clinical in front of goal as they put out a strong statement of intent.
Mozambique, also, grabbed a closely contested victory over Malawi to secure the vital three points to their opening campaign.
Last season’s hosts and 2021 silver-medallists are yearning for a continental title, having been one of the tournament favourites in recent years.
Coming up against Malawi proved to be quite a challenge for Mozambique who had to wait until the dying moments to secure a narrow 4-3 victory over Malawi, who are making their second appearance at the finals following their debut in 2022.
Reigning champions, Senegal is by far the most successful nation with 4 titles.
