Salah, 20, and Omar Marmoush, 45+1, scored in the first half to give coach Vitoria a winning debut in his first official game.

The Portuguese tactician took over the seven-time African Champions in July 2022 and produced a confident display in a one-sided home victory in front of a 20,000 fans in the 30 June stadium.

First-half goals

Egypt piled on the pressure right from the first whistle, and their early dominance was almost rewarded when Mohamed Abdel-Moneim’s header crashed off the crossbar in the eighth minute.

Mostafa Mohamed, Ahmed “Zizo” El-Sayed and Omar Marmoush came close from scoring on several occasions but failed to capitalise on their chances.

In the 20th minute Salah combines with Mohamed Hamdy to collect a cutback pass inside the box and tap home with a left-foot shot.

Malawi keeper Charles Thom denied another chance from Mohamed Hany while Omar Marmoush blasted his ball wide after latching onto a long pass behind the defence.

The Wolfsburg striker redeemed himself a few minutes later when his powerful strike bounced off defender Charles Petro into the goal to extend the Pharaohs lead just seconds before the break.

The hosts took their foot off the pedal after the interval allowing Malawi to gain momentum but nothing troubled the Egyptian keeper.

Their best chance came in the 70th minute when second half substitute Stenie Davie shot from outside the box but it went wide over the bar.

Coach Rui Vitoria made several substitution to bring in new blood as Ahmed Abdel-Kader and Marwan Atteya made their international debut and Mahmoud “Kaharaba” Abdel-Moneim played his first game for Egypt since 2019.

The Pharaohs were back in control and created more chances as Marmoush saw his header go into the hands of the keeper while Mostafa Mohamed was denied by the crossbar.

Abdel-Kader could have had a dream night as he dribbled past his marker but his tight-angled shot was saved by the keeper.

Egypt will fly Saturday to Malawi to play them on Tuesday in the next round.

The Pharaohs have now six points after three games while Malawi are bottom with 3 points. Ethiopia and Guinea, who have three points each, play each other later in the day.

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