How Egypt’s ‘water bottle’ game failed against Senegal in AFCON final

Gabaski wins MVP of AFCON final

Gabaski ends 2021 AFCON as goalkeeper with most penalty saves

Egypt fall to Senegal in 2021 AFCON final

Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Qotb Abou Gabal Ali Gabaski yet again grabbed all the attention with his ‘water bottle’ tricks in his country’s African Cup of Nations final game against Senegal.

The Pharaohs lost 4-2 on penalties with Gabaski earning all the applauds for a stunning show. He made eight saves including, Sadio Mane’s 7th minutes’ penalty without the help of his water bottle.

His goalkeeping heroics could however be attributed to the ‘water bottle’ tricks that earned him fame in the semi-final match against Cameroon.

The bottle had a print of all the Senegal player’s preferred angles. Unlike the semi-finals against Cameroon, it fairly failed although he guessed four directions out of the five penalties right.

For the first penalty, he guessed right but Kalidou Koulobaly added power and thus Gabaski could not reach it.

The Zamalek goalkeeper again went the right way for Senegal’s second but couldn’t reach it as Abou Diallo placed it beyond the goalkeeper.

Mohamed Abdelmonem stepped up for Egypt’s second and missed after Zizu had scored the first.

Bouna Sarr picked up Senegal’s third and this time Gabaski dived early and made the save to keep Egypt in the game.

Marwan Hamdi scored to draw the North Africans level, 2-2

Olympique Marseille Bamba Dieng stepped up and sent Gabaski the wrong way to score Senegal’s fourth spot-kick.

Mohanad Lasheen missed with Sadio Mane wrapping it up for Senegal with a powerful effort although Gabaski for the fourth time went the right way but could not save it.

Gabaski won the man-of-the-match award for an impressive show in the final. He ended the tournament as the goalkeeper with the most penalty saves, 8.

Despite the loss, football fans hailed the goalkeeper for his amazing performance throughout the tournament.

Below are some tweets of appreciation to Gabaski for his heroics