Egypt put the absence of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah behind them to beat Angola 1-0 in their opening Group F 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo.
Magdi Afsha scored the lone from the spot in the fifth minute of the game after Angolan defender brought down Ahmed Fatouh in the penalty box and the referee instantly pointed to the spot.
Fabi Abreu should have put Palancas Negras ahead in the second minute after being teed up by Joao Batxi but he side-footed his shot wide despite having a lot of space.
Impressive interplay between Fatouh and Tarek Hamed resulted to the foul as Angolan defence tried to tame the attack and from the spot, Magdi Afsha made no mistake to put the Pharaohs ahead.
Fatouh was involved again in the Pharaohs attempt for second goal with 16 minutes gone when he drilled a free-kick off the top of the crossbar after a foul on Mahmoud El-Wensh.
It was at this particular point that Angola started opening up following the next eight minutes as goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy parried a smart cross-cum shot.
Angola started to pull numbers back and provided El Shenawy with more work from a spell of two promising attempts from point-blank range.
Egypt still maintained the lively spark from the earlier exchanges, as Mohamed Sherif managed to see a lot of the ball and his runs on and off the ball proved troublesome for Angolans.
The visitors suddenly began to find life difficult closer to the last 30 minutes as the Pharaohs bombarded the opposing goal but Hugo Marques was equal to every threat.
Simone Miranda came close to getting the equaliser for the hosts in the last 12 minutes with a looping strike from outside the box that was saved by El Shenawy
Angola were piling on the pressure in the dying minutes as Herenilson was denied by the upright in the last two minutes, but Egypt held on to claim the three points.
How they lined up:
Egypt: Mohamed El-Shennawi, Baher El-Mohammadi, Ahmed Hegazy, Mahmoud El-Wensh, Ahmed Fatouh, Tarek Hamed, Amr El-Sulaya, Ahmed Zizo, Magdi Afsha, Hussein El-Shahat, Mohamed Sherif
Angola: Hugo Marques, Nurio Fortuna, Jonathan Buatu, Bastos, Inacio Miguel, Mario, Estrela, Fredy, Joao Batxi, Vladimiro Antonio, Fabio Abreu
