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Egypt Beaten 1-0 by South Africa in Cairo Without Salah; Portugal Come From Behind to Beat Norway; Copa del Rey First Round Drawn
Puso Dithejane's 51st-minute goal gave Pitso Mosimane's South Africa a 1-0 friendly win over Egypt in Cairo, with Mohamed Salah absent. Portugal beat Norway 2-1 in Porto for a fourth straight Nations League win, and Spain's Copa del Rey first round was drawn with Barcelona and Real Madrid exempt.
Egypt lost 1-0 to South Africa in a friendly at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday, October 4. Puso Dithejane scored the only goal in the 51st minute; Arabic match reports put it down to a mistake by goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, who was replaced in the 70th minute by Zamalek's El Mahdy Soliman, making his first appearance for the national team. Egypt pushed for an equaliser and Ibrahim Adel struck the woodwork deep into stoppage time, but Pitso Mosimane's much-changed side held on. According to News24, Mosimane made nine changes to his starting line-up, and the result is his third win from three matches in charge, after Guinea (2-1) and Eritrea (5-0).
Mohamed Salah was not involved. Reports say his absence was agreed in advance with Hossam Hassan's coaching staff: he left the camp after the goalless draw with Angola, was rested for the 5-0 win over South Sudan because of the artificial pitch in Juba, and did not return for the friendly. Reports add that his next club match is Trabzonspor's Europa League trip to KuPS in Finland on October 15.
In Porto, Portugal came from behind to beat Norway 2-1 in UEFA Nations League Group A4. Kristoffer Ajer put Norway ahead in the 36th minute, João Cancelo equalised two minutes later and Gonçalo Ramos scored the winner in the 79th. Francisco Conceição was sent off late on for a second yellow card. Portugal have won all four group games and lead on 12 points, six clear of Denmark, with Wales and Norway on three; A Bola reports that the win secures a place in the quarter-finals. Cristiano Ronaldo was not in the squad: according to ESPN he left the camp after the second match of the campaign and has not played since.
Elsewhere in League A on Sunday, Greece and Germany drew 0-0 in Thessaloniki and the Netherlands beat Serbia 2-1 in Eindhoven through Teun Koopmeiners and Joshua Zirkzee.
In Spain, the federation (RFEF) held the Copa del Rey first-round draw on Monday, October 5 at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas: 56 ties involving 112 of the 116 clubs. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad are exempt because they play the Spanish Super Cup. According to ElNacional.cat, the ties are single matches at the lower-division club's ground on October 27-29, and the pairings include Sestao River v Espanyol and Cuarte v Girona.
Match facts (all played Sunday, October 4, 2026)
• Egypt 0-1 South Africa, friendly — Cairo International Stadium, Cairo. Referee: Nabil Boukhalfa (Algeria). Attendance: no official figure published.
• Portugal 2-1 Norway, UEFA Nations League A4 — Estádio do Dragão, Porto. Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy), according to Portuguese media reports. Attendance: no official figure published.
• Greece 0-0 Germany, UEFA Nations League A — Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki. Referee: Clément Turpin (France) and attendance 27,599, both according to the match record on Wikipedia.
• Netherlands 2-1 Serbia, UEFA Nations League A — Philips Stadion, Eindhoven. Referee: Donatas Rumšas (Lithuania) and attendance 31,387, both according to the match record on Wikipedia.
Sources: https://www.news24.com/sport/soccer/bafana-bafana-and-banyana-banyana/live-egypt-v-bafana-bafana-20261004-0818 · https://africasoccer.com/puso-dithejane-gives-south-africa-victory-over-egypt-in-cairo-friendly/ · https://amp.skynewsarabia.com/sport/1896180-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A5%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%BA%D9%84-%D8%AE%D8%B7%D8%A3-%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B2-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1 · https://sundayguardianlive.com/sports/egypt-vs-south-africa-will-mohamed-salah-play-todays-international-friendly-latest-update-on-trabzonspor-star-298750/ · https://www.voiceofemirates.com/en/sport/2026/10/02/after-leaving-the-egyptian-camp-mohamed-salah-returns-to-face-trabzonspor-on-artificial-turf/ · https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/401861126 · https://www.abola.pt/futebol/jogo/portugal-noruega-8394780/liveblog · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Nations_League_A · https://rfef.es/es/noticias/122-equipos-56-cruces-la-primera-eliminatoria-de-la-copa-del-rey-mapfre-se-sortea-el-5-de · https://www.elnacional.cat/es/deportes/equipos-catalanes-ya-conocen-rivales-primera-eliminatoria-copa-rey_1705366_102.html
Egypt · South Africa · Mohamed Salah · Portugal · Norway · Nations League · Copa del Rey
Competition: UEFA Nations League · Spanish Copa del Rey