“Nations of Africa”: a historic Egyptian trilogy between 2006 and 2010
Egypt achieved a historic hat-trick in the African Cup of Nations between 2006 and 2010, under the leadership of “Al-Muallem” Hassan Shehata, placing it at the top of the continent undisputed with seven titles.
In 2006, it hosted the continental finals for the fourth time after 1959, 1974 and 1986, and succeeded in achieving a historic achievement by being crowned a fifth time, setting the record that it had shared with Ghana and Cameroon.
Egypt owes its achievement to its goalkeeper, Essam El-Hadary, who excelled in the final against Côte d’Ivoire by saving two penalty kicks that enabled the “Pharaohs” to win the title (4-2 after a goalless draw), knowing that they defeated them in the first round 3-1.
El-Hadary blocked the kicks of Chelsea’s English star Didier Drogba and Bakary Kone, thus confirming his country’s right to win the title and win the Best Goalkeeper Award.
Egypt retained the Arab title, succeeding Tunisia, and succeeded in erasing the disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup. They returned the blow to the Côte d’Ivoire national team, whom they defeated twice in the qualifiers, 2-1 in Alexandria and 2-0 in Abidjan.
Veteran striker Hossam Hassan succeeded in winning the third African title in his football career, concluding his wonderful career after the 1986 and 1998 titles.
Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata, a replacement for Italian Marco Tardelli who was fired after failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, also succeeded in winning the continental title, which he was unable to win as a player when he was eliminated in the round of four in the 1974 tournaments in Egypt in particular, 1976 in Ethiopia, 1978 in Ghana, and 1980 in Nigeria.
Egypt struck hard in the first round, then crushed the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in the quarter-finals. It defeated Senegal 2-1 in the round of four, before winning a penalty shootout against Côte d’Ivoire in the final match.
Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o was crowned top scorer in the 5th round, Egyptian Ahmed Hassan was the best player, his compatriot Essam El-Hadary was the best goalkeeper, and Nigerian John Mikel Obi was the best emerging player.
Tunisia, the 2004 champion, was eliminated in the quarter-finals, losing to Nigeria on penalties, and Morocco, the 2004 runner-up, was eliminated in the first round. Libya’s situation was no better than Morocco, and it was also eliminated from the first round.
Aboutrika celebrates scoring the winning goal for Egypt in the 2008 final against Cameroon (Getty)
In 2008, Ghana hosted the continental finals for the fourth time, and was hopeful of winning a fifth title, but it failed in the face of a new Pharaonic brilliance, as the Egyptian team succeeded in achieving the achievement, by winning the second title in a row and the sixth in its history.
The Egyptian team owes its victory to Al-Ahly star Mohamed Aboutrika, who scored the winning goal in the final match against Cameroon, repeating his achievement in the previous edition, when he scored a penalty kick that gave the Pharaohs the title at the expense of Côte d’Ivoire.
The Egyptian national team showed its teeth since the first match, by overwhelmingly defeating Cameroon 4-2 with braces from Hasni Abd Rabbo and Mohamed Zidane, then sweeping its Sudanese neighbor 3-0.
Egypt defeated Angola in the quarter-finals 2-1, then ousted star-studded Côte d’Ivoire and the first candidate to win the title 4-1, before renewing its victory over Cameroon in the final 1-0 and retaining the title.
“Al-Muallem” Shehata became the first Egyptian coach to lead his country to two consecutive continental titles, and the first coach on the African continent to win two consecutive titles since Ghana’s Charles Gyamfi in 1963 and 1965, noting that he returned and won it a third time after leading Ghana to its fourth title in 1982 in Libya.
Egypt and Ismaily midfielder Hosni Abd Rabbo was chosen as best player after scoring 4 goals, and the brilliant Essam El-Hadary retained the title of best goalkeeper.
The consolation for Cameroon, which was aspiring to a fifth continental title, was that its star Samuel Eto’o was crowned the tournament’s top scorer (5), for the third time in a row after 2004 (4) and 2006 (5).
Tunisia failed to advance to the quarter-finals for the second time in a row, losing to Cameroon 2-3 after extra time (regular time 2-2). The Moroccan team exited the tournament in the first round after a resounding start during which it swept Namibia 5-1, but lost to Guinea 2-3 and Ghana 0-2 and left empty-handed.
For its part, the return of the Sudanese team to the finals was not successful after an absence of 32 years, as it suffered three consecutive defeats with one score of 0-3 against Zambia, Egypt and Cameroon.
Hassan Shehata, former coach of Egypt (AFP)
The Egyptian national team wrote a new history for the African Cup of Nations when it won its third title in a row and the seventh in its history, by defeating Ghana 1-0 in the final of the 2010 edition, which was held for the first time in Angola.
Once again, Egypt dazzled everyone with its performances, especially against the major teams, confirming its position on the throne of the tournament in the continent.
It killed several birds with one stone, silencing its critics by not being able to retain the cup and excluding it from the competition, as the most optimistic people did not expect it to pass the first round, due to shaky morale following the failure to qualify for the World Cup, in addition to the absence of its most prominent members, Mohamed Abu Trika, Mohamed Barakat, and Amr. Zaki and Ahmed Hossam (Mido).
But these difficult circumstances, as usual, served as a great incentive for the Egyptian players and their technical director, Shehata, to excel themselves. They attracted attention from the first match against Nigeria, when they turned a 0-1 deficit into a huge 3-1 win, to the final match, when they beat Ghana 1-0. Confirming their right to be present at the global wedding.
Between the first match and the final, the Pharaohs achieved several records, from six consecutive victories to an unbeaten record in the last 19 matches in the continental tournament, the first victory over Nigeria since 1977, the first over Algeria outside the rules and with a clean four, and renewed superiority over Cameroon, which was runner-up 3. -1 after extra time in the quarter-finals.
Egyptian players celebrate after winning the seventh title in 2010 (Reuters)
It won the third title in a row and the seventh in history, under the leadership of Shehata, who became the first coach in the world to win 3 consecutive continental titles, and a fourth title for its captain, Ahmed Hassan, and its goalkeeper, Essam El-Hadary.
Ahmed Hassan was crowned the best player for the second time after 2006, noting that the 2008 title went to his compatriot Hosni Abd Rabbo, Al-Hadary won the title of best goalkeeper for the third time in a row, and Mohamed Naji (Geddo) won the title of top scorer in the tournament (5).
Algeria finished fourth, losing to Nigeria 0-1, after it caused a huge surprise by defeating Côte d’Ivoire, which was a strong candidate for the title, in the quarter-finals by defeating them 3-2 after extra time, but it suffered a devastating defeat against the Pharaohs in the round of four in a four-legged round. Clean, and the latter received consideration for its loss to Algeria 0-1 in the qualifying play-off match for the World Cup in South Africa.
Togo withdrew from the finals because the bus carrying its national team players was subjected to an armed attack claimed by the Cabinda State Liberation Organization, on the Angolan-Congolese border, which claimed the lives of press attaché Stanislas Aklo and assistant coach Abalo Amelite, in addition to wounding nine other people, including defender Serge Akakpo and the goalkeeper. Kodjovi Obilali.
2024-01-07 23:14:15
#Iraq #coach #Asian #Cup #goals
