Egypt coach Rui Vitoria believes the most important thing for his side was to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations and not how they achieved the slot.

The Pharaohs booked their place in the Round of 16 after their thrilling 2-2 draw with Cape Verde on Monday. This was after their closest challengers Ghana were held to a 2-2 draw by Mozambique with the latter scoring two-stoppage time penalties.

“Qualifying in this way or otherwise is not important, but what is more important is that we qualified at the present time,” said Vitoria after the game, adding: “We are a team that plays in an attacking manner, and we always take the initiative, so it is natural for us to concede goals at the moment.

“We will work on correcting the situation in the coming days before the Round of 16 match to show a better performance. This qualification came deservedly because the players exerted a great effort on the pitch.”