The Pharaohs tame Cameroon's Lions in the African Cup of Nations

By Mohamad Mahmoud in Cairo
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-01-26

[KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images] Egypt (in red) defeated Cameroon in a CAN quarter-final match.

Egypt was overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation, following the national team's defeat of Cameroon 3-1 Monday (January 25th) at the Cup of African Nations (CAN). Egypt will now play Algeria in the semi-finals.

Cameroon jumped to an early 1-0 lead because of an error committed by Ahmad Hassan, Egypt's captain. Hassan soon redeemed himself with his fans when he scored the tying goal in the 36th minute.

The game continued at a draw through the onset of extra time, when Mohamed Gedo scored Egypt's second goal, taking advantage of faulty back pass to the Cameroon goalkeeper committed by Cameroon's defenseman Geremi Njitap. Two minutes later, Ahmad Hassan scored again, securing the Egyptian win.

Algeria qualified for the semi-finals on Sunday after defeating Cote d'Ivoire. Both the Algeria-Egypt and Ghana-Nigeria matchups are scheduled for Thursday (January 28th).

After the game Egyptian soccer fans took to the streets to celebrate into the night.

In Abbas El-Akad, Nasr City, one of Cairo's neighbourhoods, fans blocked the streets for some time, lifting banners, flags and player photos, especially Ahmad Hassan's, the captain of the team who boasts a record of 177 international games played.

"Captain Ahmad is very dedicated and he knows how to make his fans happy. God bless him," commented Mohamad Sayed Atef, 26. "I wish we could defeat Algeria and win the championship. The national squad is in its best shape."

"No words could describe how I feel," Karim Mostapha, 19, said. "I am going to do everything I can to talk my parents into letting me go to Angola to cheer for the Egyptian team there."

Alexandria was even more joyful than Cairo because it is the hometown of Mohamad Nagi Geddou who scored the victory goal.

Happy and excited as they were, many of the fans who spoke with Al-Shorfa expressed their concern about the upcoming game with Algeria because of past tensions that arose between fans on both sides. Riots broke out after their previous meeting in the World Cup qualifying match last November in Khartoum.

"Let's just hope we see a soccer game, not a war, like what happened in Sudan," Amir Sa'id, aged 23, said.

In the meantime, Engineer Hassan Saker, head of the Higher Council for Sports, said in a press release that the council has begun co-ordinating with various authorities in Egypt in order to assist fans who want to travel to Angola to attend the game.

"There are no administrative problems concerning the visa. The difficulty, however, is in organising the flights, especially since the game versus Algeria will not be held in the capital Luanda, but in Benguela," Saker added.

Saker also noted that "fans will head for Angola only to cheer for their team, and will show good sportsmanship."

Within that context, the Ismaili and Masri sports clubs announced they will cover the travel expenses of 100 fans, to be chosen by lot that should be held Tuesday evening (January 26th).

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