It ended, as it had for a long time seemed that it would, with penalties. And as has happened twice before at the Africa Cup of Nations in the past 24 years, Egypt beat Ivory Coast on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Eric Bailly, who had had an excellent game, saw his dinked effort pushed against the crossbar by Egypt’s substitute keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal. Combined with Mohamed Salah’s decisive spot-kick, it was enough for Carlos Queiroz’s Egypt to progress. Unbending, unyielding, Queiroz remains the same as he always been. His hair may slowly be retreating from his crown with each passing year but the hands-on-hip prowl around his technical area means the same as it ever did. So too does the football. “It’s down to work,” Queiroz said. “We have prepared very well since our last match. We repeated what we did during training. We were there in the spaces and marking. Concentration and respect for the game plan. We were the best team, we had the best chances.” Queiroz has spent the tournament despairing of fans who doubt his cautious approach and demand Egypt “kick the ball forward, kick the ball forward”, insisting he was content to wait for “one small mistake, one rebound”. Against this Ivorian defence, it was less likely to be one small mistake than several big ones. The pitch in Douala is probably even more disappointing than the media facilities, which perhaps offers some excuse, but again and again passes were misplaced. As Queiroz had hinted, Egypt did not so much try to create anything as wait for Ivory Coast to present them with the ball but, as in the group stage, a vaunted forward line squandered the opportunities. Omar Marmoush pinged a 15th-minute shot off the crossbar but, that aside, Egypt’s threat was largely theoretical. The Ivory Coast coach, Patrice Beaumelle, has twice won the Cup of Nations as assistant to Hervé Renard and apes Renard’s famous lucky white shirt. The rugged Mills & Boon hero look though, is rather undermined by his decision to pair the shirt with a pair of Jerry Seinfeld trainers. And he could not overcome the familiar failing of Ivory Coast against Egypt. Early in the second half, as the game became tense and the tempo rose, it became a case of the terrible finishing of Egypt against the terrible crossing of Ivory Coast. But Queiroz soon put a stop to that, shifting to 4-2-3-1. Egypt became increasingly conservative and wasted time at every opportunity. It was all very familiar; Egypt have always been masters of that if they feel the game might be slipping from them. Queiroz preaches control and, while a shootout clearly offers no guarantees, it was better than the alternative of taking Ivory Coast on in an open game. And when you have Salah taking your final penalty, that does tip things in your favour. Morocco will be harder to stifle on Sunday, but Queiroz will not change: Egypt are in the last eight having only scored two goals.