EGYPT FALL 1-0 AT HOME TO SOUTH AFRICA AS SALAH STAYS OUT AND HASSAN’S BENCH UNRAVELS
Bafana Bafana beat Egypt 1-0 at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday. Puso Dithejane scored around the 51st minute after Mostafa Shobeir came off his line and left an empty net. It was Pitso Mosimane’s third straight win. Mohamed Salah was not in the matchday squad, his second absence in a row. Hassan was also filmed asking “Who said Ziko?” during a substitution mix-up.
Egypt lost 1-0 to South Africa in Cairo on Sunday, a friendly that now sits on top of a missing captain and a coach already arguing with his own public.
Puso Dithejane scored the only goal at Cairo International Stadium on 4 October 2026, around the 51st minute. Ahram Online timed it at 51. The South African Football Association timed it at 50. The move was the same either way. A ball went in behind the Egypt defence. Goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir rushed out, misjudged the flight, and left the net empty. Dithejane finished into it.
Pitso Mosimane had promised wholesale changes after AFCON qualifying wins over Guinea and Eritrea. He made them. Bafana still won, a third straight victory in his short reign, and the first of those three on the road against the most successful team in Africa Cup of Nations history. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in Cairo for an African Union meeting, visited the dressing room before kickoff and watched from the stands. SAFA president Danny Jordaan said the team had made the country proud.
Egypt had more of the ball. They did not have an answer. Omar Marmoush started. Emam Ashour came off at half-time for Osama Faisal. Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Hamza Abdelkarim came on around the 69th minute. Abdelkarim headed a chance that the South Africa goalkeeper turned behind. Shobeir himself was replaced on 77 minutes by El-Mahdy Soliman, handed an international debut. It did not change the score.
The bench supplied the clip that travelled faster than the goal. As Hassan prepared the changes, Mostafa Ziko appeared at the touchline as if he were coming off. Hassan turned to staff and asked, on camera, “Who said Ziko?” He kept Ziko on and took Marmoush off instead. Yellow cards went to Mohamed Hany, Zizo and Ziko for Egypt, and to Poggenpoel, Ndamane, Mbuthuma and Makhanya for South Africa.
Mohamed Salah was not in the starting side and not on the bench. It was his second straight miss. He played the opening 2027 AFCON qualifier against Angola on 25 September and was substituted after 60 minutes. He then sat out the 5-0 win over South Sudan. The Egyptian Football Association said he was rested from that match because it was played on artificial turf and the staff wanted to limit injury risk. Reports before the South Africa friendly said he had been allowed to leave camp by agreement and would return to Trabzonspor. He is not listed as injured. The association has not published a fuller explanation for why he was absent from a home friendly he had been expected to play.
Hassan was already under fire before Sunday. He had described goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy as “finished,” then said the remark was misinterpreted, and said Salah had asked to be rested against South Sudan. A home defeat to a rotated South Africa side, with the captain absent and a substitution called for the wrong player, gives those critics a result to attach to the argument.
The match was a friendly. It does not change the qualifying table. It does change the week. Mosimane has four wins from four meetings with Hassan, counting three club games when he was at Al Ahly and Hassan was at Al Ittihad. Egypt, seven-time AFCON winners, go back to club football without a public account of when Salah returns.
