On-form Liverpool forward MO Salah assisted twice as Egypt came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Angola and progress to the play-off round of the CAF World Cup qualifiers.
Egypt were staring at the possibility of having to wait till the final match day to qualify after going 2-0 down inside the first 35 minutes of the game, but they powered to fight back and get a point away from home in Luanda.
The victory by the Pharaohs takes them to 11 points, four ahead of second placed Gabon who had earlier on given themselves hope with a 1-0 win over Libya.
The Gabonese side, scoring their lone goal through Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang had moved to seven points with the victory against Libya, and needed Egypt to lose to Angola to stand a chance heading to the last match day.
However, with the point on the road and with one round to go, the Egyptians have an unassailable lead in the group.
Angola who were out of contention but seeking a second consecutive victory were off to a fine start and broke the deadlock in the 25th minute through Helder Costa’s well taken low shot from outside the area.
Ten minutes later, the home boys were 2-0 up when M'Bala Nzola scored from the penalty spot. The Spezia forward calmly converted from 12 yards out after Akram Tawfik had clipped down Mateus inside the box.
At 2-0 down, it seemed that the home side, pushed on by a sizeable crown were well headed for a shock victory against the tough Egyptians, led by on-form Liverpool star Mo Salah.
But just at the stroke of halftime, Mohamed Elneny halved the deficit with a fine finish after picking up a pass from Salah as they went to the break with just a one goal deficit.
They completed their comeback in the 58th minute when Tawfik made amends for giving away a penalty with the equalizing goal, striking a well taken low shot inside the box off another Salah assist.
Meanwhile, Algeria are now just a point away from reaching the play-off round after the African champions thrashed Djibouti 4-0 in Cairo.
Youcef Bellaili scored in the 29th minute to break the deadlock, just a minute after missing a penalty. They added the second in the 40th minute when Bounedjah won the ball at the edge of the box before sending Benrahma through. The forward took a low shot into the net.
Two minutes later they made it 3-0 when Feghouli finished off with a powerful shot that the Djibouti keeper failed to hold.
Islam Slimani then crowned the victory four minutes of time when he headed the ball home beyond the keeper after he had spilled a powerful shot from Said Benrahma.