(Congo DR 0 – Egypt 1): you have to love dramatic endings!!

being an Egyptian football fan means that nothing comes easy and that you can’t just relax and enjoy an easy win even if you are the continent champion and playing with the weakest country there is in this world (remember penalty kicks in can 2006 and the last 10 minutes i the final against Cameroon and all the hard time we had to endure during qualifications campaign….generally i speak.

However, this time, the players took a rare decision to make us happy again (the last time we were, was on the 10th of February) and win our life or death match against Congo. There was no other option because it would have been a shame that Egypt won’t even qualify for the next round in a group like this.

the priceless goal from abu trika exceeded the importance of the match itself; I mean this is the first, major, important AWAY win for us in years (last time was in Sudan 2004, aside from Djibouti’s match), it also meant that we can have confidence once again in the team after the shocking 4-0 defeat also against Sudan…….HUGE THANKS TO THE GUY.

not watching the first half because of a silly and ridiculous contract problems between Congolese TV and its Egyptian counter part but i managed to get a satellite channel in the second half, so I can only talk about what i saw.

from what i saw, the champion spirit returned to the players and with the return of injured and excluded players like Ahmed Fathi and Mohamed Zidan we stand a great chance against big guns like Nigeria, Cote D’ivoire….etc

the players played confidently passing the ball on the ground with concentration and confidence keeping possession when needed and fasting the pace of the game when they want while at the same time closing the penalty area completely in front of the Congo’s attack.

the substitution were very smart and successful with mohamed homos restoring our control of the midfield especially that he is the type of player who can keep the ball until one of his team mates is up and then start a counter attack. While mido came in the last ten minutes (playing with 50% of his power due to a muscular injury) to push back congo’s team when we had more than 9 players in our half of the field.

The only gap I sensed was the right wing to due to the lack of experience of Ahmed el Mohamady although he showed great enthusiasm and put a good physical performance in one-on-one challenges.

In the goal, El Hadary once again proves that he is the best of the best saving us from two goals brilliantly. all those who called for his exclusion from the NT now knows that he is irreplaceable for us.

the zak show

the EPL top scorer till now proved to us again that he is class and that playing in England has made him even more powerful; missing two certain chances and the post denied him a first time shot. u just have to love his style when he puts the defender in his back, dribble between 2 or 3 and fires a sam-6 shot, if we are meant to go to the world cup this guy is the one who is going to get us there.

NB: wigan’s poster for their match against Sunderland put Amr in front saying “Amr is ready….are you?”, this guys is one of the few reasons that makes me continue to watch football

SMS to:

Emad meteb: you really need to improve yourself because your chances in the national team attack are becoming very weak, with Amr Zaki reserving his place and Mido getting better everyday and Zidan’s expected return you are in a real threat, if it wasn’t for Shehata’s love for you, you wouldn’t have seen the NT.

Ahmed Hassan: for god sake, pass the ball to your team mates’ cuz you are not playing alone. we could have score a second goal if it wasn’t for your selfishness.

Fathallah: welcome back and keep it up

Sayed Moawad: you were never missed in this game or in any other …….stay at home

Hosni abd raboh: moving to ahly dubai wasn’t a very wise decision , you have a lot f work to do to restore the MVP in can 2008

the players spread happiness among millions of Egyptians who were getting ready for their iftar meal, you just have to imagine what could have happened if we lost this match!!…… thank you guys

Here is the goal