44-year-old El Hadary takes Egypt into final

LIBTRVILLE — Veteran 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam El Hadary saved from Bertrand Traore’s spot kick to allow Egypt to beat Burkina Faso 4-3 on penalties Wednesday as they secured their place in the Africa Cup of Nations final. A tense semifinal in Libreville had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time, with Roma star Mohamed Salah’s superb 66th-minute opener for the Egyptians quickly canceled out by Aristide Bance for Burkina Faso. That goal was the first conceded by El Hadary — the oldest ever player at the Cup of Nations — in 653 minutes at the tournament going back to 2010. Abdallah El Said missed Egypt’s first penalty in the shootout but El Hadary kept the Pharaohs in it when he saved from opposing goalkeeper Herve Koffi, before denying Traore from the last kick. For Egypt, the record seven-time champion of Africa, the win completes a remarkable journey all the way to the final in its first appearance at the tournament after a seven-year absence. Unbeaten in 24 games at the tournament, it will play Cameroon or Ghana in Gabon’s capital Sunday as it looks to reclaim a trophy it had won three times in a row between 2006 and 2010 before its fall from grace. Cameroon and Ghana meet in Franceville in the second semifinal Thursday. “They were better than us and had several chances that they didn’t take,” admitted Egypt’s Argentine coach Hector Cuper. Burkina Faso, which was hoping to repeat its run to the final in 2013, will instead goes to Port-Gentil for the third-place play-off Saturday. Its coach Paulo Duarte said: “Looking at the match — not the penalties because Egypt won those thanks to a goalkeeper with enormous experience — if one team had to win it was us.” Burkina Faso enjoyed the better of the game for long spells but came up against an Egypt side transformed under Cuper. The Pharaohs had not conceded a goal at this Cup of Nations coming into this last-four tie, with a well organized defense complemented by the extraordinary El Hadary, who broke the record for the oldest ever player at the competition when he came off the bench in Egypt’s first group game. The first half ended goalless. And it looked set to be another classic smash and grab act from the Egyptians as they opened the scoring just before the midway point in the second half. Ahmed Elmohamady’s ball into the box found Kahraba, who controlled and laid it off for Roma winger Salah to blast a first-time strike high into the net. Yet Burkina Faso kept going and the Egypt defense was breached for the first time at this Cup of Nations thanks to giant striker Bance. Steeve Yago’s backheel found Charles Kabore and the captain’s flighted ball was controlled and smashed home from close range in one lighting-fast action by Bance, ending El Hadary’s remarkable record of invincibility at the tournament at just short of 11 hours. — AFP