Despite the end result of the game being in favor of Uruguay in the FIFA World Cup 2018, the Egyptian National Football Team won the hearts of millions of people and not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world. This is the first game I watch Egypt play and the only game I will never regret watching.
On Friday, at 2pm, Egypt played its first game in the FIFA World Cup 2018. The Egyptian National Team led by the Coach, Héctor Cúper, played against Uruguay National Football team led by Diego Godín
I didn’t watch the game at any café. I didn’t find time to take a cab and just go to any nearby café in Korba or any other place in Masr el Gedida. I slept the whole day and woke up exactly half an hour before the match started!
I was so nervous and I needed to find any place where I can basically sit and watch the game. My sister came into my room and she told me about this one place that can work best in terms of the very tight time before the match would begin.
She told me about this hall in Saint Gawargious church (my church) that was going to air the game on screen. But she also told me that I would have to squeeze myself in because the place was already so crowded and there were many people standing outside the hall. I had no other option so I went there.
It was exactly the way my sister described it; it was a big narrow-sized hall with seats arranged in a ten-row dimensions. Most of the people in the hall were adults, I would rather also call “parents” who came to see the match and brought along their children. Only a few of the people I saw there were wearing T-shirt Masr, the rest were casually dressed. The hall went dark as soon as the match began as if I were in the cinema.
But the hall smelled so bad, literally. There were no windows in the room and there were no ACs. The children in there were sweaty already and were in a huge need for a bath. I could barely make a move in the room and found it even harder to take pictures since I had to move from one place to the other to take them.
Worse, I had to get out of the hall to tweet outside because there was no cellular coverage in the hall. Hence, I had to move a lot and squeeze myself among the people making my way to and from the door of the hall. It was chaotic!
But everyone in the hall was in high spirits as they cheered for the national team. Even children were crying out “Egypt, Egypt”. Young men in the hall would curse the rival team wishing they would die or just lose. People were on fire, they would clap real hard whenever the national team made a clever move on the field. Young girls were standing at the back and on the seats cheering.
Many people in the hall were waving their flags. They couldn’t even bare the break between the first and second half. They eagerly wanted to see the end result of the match which they hoped would be in favor of the National team.
I could only see what the hall looked like when the people left to bring something to eat or drink before the second half. It was really big and green-walled. You’d imagine it really small only when it got crowded, with all the lights turned off.
However, it was only a ten-minute break till the people came rushing in for the second half. Excitement and anxiety were back once again. The hall went dark again. I could see none smiling in the hall, all were terribly anxious.
Towards the end of the match, people were getting more worried and even many of them started blowing. Many people were literally on the edge of their seats. Sadly, it happened at the 90th minute of the second half of the match. Uruguay scored its only goal dashing Egypt’s dreams.
This is the first game I watch Egypt play (I watched this one for the sake of the assignment) but I did really enjoy it despite the eventual loss of the team. The performance was spectacular. The Egyptian National Team did win our hearts and did not fail our expectations. Better, Mohamed el Shenawy was announced to be Man of the Match for the first time ever in the history of Egypt.
The Adventures of Tintin 