Egypt scored their greatest ever victory with a thoroughly deserved 1-0 win on Thursday over world champions Italy who had never previously lost to an African team.

The shock result means Group B in the Confederations Cup

hangs in the balance with all four teams still able to progress

to next week's semi-finals.

Mohamed Homos' goal five minutes before half-time clinched

the first points of the tournament for the African champions,

who narrowly lost 4-3 to Brazil in their opening game.

Most of the Egyptians and coach Hassan Shehata shed tears of

joy at the final whistle as they became the first African side

in 15 attempts to beat the Italians.

Key second half saves from veteran goalkeeper Essam Al

Hadari, who had an inspired match, kept the Italians at bay

while Vincenzo Iaquinta hit the crossbar with just minutes

remaining as Egypt weathered a late onslaught.

"All the teams today are very good. You always have to be at

your best," said Italy coach Marcello Lippi. "We tried some

different things. It didn't go very well. Their keeper made

three or four very difficult saves."

Brazil, who beat the United States in Pretoria earlier on

Thursday, lead the standings with six points while Italy and

Egypt have three.

Brazil and Italy meet in Pretoria on Sunday while the

Egyptians play the Americans, who have yet to pick up a point,

in Rustenburg at the same time.

Despite losing both games the U.S. still have a remote

chance of getting through to the last four.

Lippi made five changes to the team that started against the

U.S. on Monday, with the return of fit-again captain Fabio

Cannavaro, winning his 124th cap -- two short of Paolo Maldini's

all-time Italian record of 126.

Cannavaro, typically, added steel to the Italian defence,

while Giuseppe Rossi, who came on as a substitute and scored

twice against the U.S., added youthful zest to the attack.

Both teams enjoyed plenty of possession in their first

meeting since Italy beat Egypt 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier 55

years ago, but it was a still a real surprise when the Egyptians

took the lead five minutes before the break.

Italy only had themselves to blame, leaving Homos unmarked

to score with a powerful header from Mohamed Aboutrika's perfect

inswinging corner.

The Italians had also trailed the U.S. 1-0 at the break in

their opening match, before coming back strongly to win.

But Egypt held their nerve and their ground despite Italy

bringing in attacking reinforcements Luca Toni, Simone Pepe and

Riccardo Montolivo in the second half.

They might have known it was not to be their night when El

Hadari made two fine stops in two minutes in the first half from

Iaquinta after 24 minutes and Rossi, who forced the keeper into

another fine save when he palmed the ball over the bar.

Egypt, despite winning only once in their last five matches

and getting off to a poor start in their final World Cup

qualifying group, never looked overawed by the Italians.

Mohamed Shawky and Sayed Moawad gave as good as they got in

the midfield battle for supremacy, with Italy's Gennaro Gattuso,

De Rossi and Andrea Pirlo battling to cope with the

inventiveness of the African champions' approach play.

Both teams threatened after the break, and El Hadari made

another excellent save from Montolivo after 74 minutes to keep

Egypt in the lead.

Iaquinta almost equalised for Italy five minutes from time,

only to see his long range curling shot hit the bar and Italy's

hopes of winning the game bounce away with it.