By Ahmed WalidThe Athletic
“Divine justice descends on Palermo’s stadium.”
Every Egyptian knows this phrase by heart
It was the late Mahmoud Bakr’s commentary during Egypt’s 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in the 1990 World Cup, after Egypt’s then-striker Hossam Hassan — head coach of the current side — was brought down in the penalty area and referee Emilio Soriano Aladren pointed to the spot
Magdi Abdelghani scored Egypt’s only goal of that tournament, before a 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland and a 1-0 defeat to England meant they finished bottom of Group F
In hindsight, the failure to win a single game after a 56-year wait between World Cups was just a taster of the hoodoo that haunted Egypt over the following 36 years
Hassan’s side, who beat Australia on penalties on Friday to reach the round of 16 of this World Cup, will forever be remembered in Egyptian football folklore as the team that finally broke the curse — winning Egypt’s first World Cup match (their 3-1 victory against New Zealand) and advancing to the second round of the knockout stages
It took so many years of hurt, incompetence and misfortune to get this far that, in October 2013, a couple of Egyptian journalists made a short documentary named “The years of missed chances”
Little did they know that two days after its release, Egypt would lose 6-1 to Ghana in the first leg of the final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. The caveat here is that the 2011-12 and 2012-13 Egyptian domestic seasons were cancelled due to the Port Said Stadium riot in February 2012 and the June 30 revolution in 2013
Egypt’s mishaps in the World Cup qualifiers are plenty. Yet, nothing comes close to “the stone” and Magdy Tolba’s missed chance in April 1993
In the first round of the qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, Egypt defeated Zimbabwe 2-1 in Cairo. However, after a stone struck the opposition head coach, FIFA declared the game was to be replayed on the neutral territory of Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France
In that replayed match, Tolba missed an open goal from five yards out, denying Egypt victory, which meant finishing second behind Zimbabwe and failing to qualify for the tournament in the U.S
Egypt also missed the 1998 World Cup after finishing second in a group containing Tunisia, Liberia and Namibia, where only the first-place team qualified to the final tournament
The thing about the 1998 qualifiers was the peculiar decision to appoint Farouk Gaafar as head coach and Mahmoud El Khatib as the general manager of the national team, practically giving them the same job
Add in George Weah tricking Essam El-Hadary in the 1-0 defeat away to Liberia, by faking a cross, slotting the ball in the near post and pointing to his head in celebration, and you have the full Egyptian experience
Africa having just five places at the World Cup between 1998 and 2022 often resulted in a group of death in the qualifiers, where only one team could make the final tournament. Group C in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers was the epitome of that: Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Namibia fighting for one qualifying spot
Senegal booked their spot in Japan and South Korea, topping the qualifying group with a superior goal difference to Morocco, who finished with the same number of points (15)
But at the 60-minute mark of the last round matches, Egypt were heading to the World Cup thanks to Mido’s goal against Algeria. Sadly for Egypt, Algeria drew level just eight minutes later, before Senegal added two more goals to round off a 5-0 victory against Namibia, making qualification impossible for Egypt, who needed three more goals but failed to score any
Egyptians rued Mohamed Emara’s open-goal miss in the 1-1 draw away to Algeria, but it was Tarek El Said’s spurned chance — rounding the goalkeeper and hitting the side netting — in the 0-0 draw at home to Morocco that hurt them most
The group of death in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers wasn’t enough, because in Egypt’s next attempt to reach the finals in 2006, their luck put them in a group with Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast and Samuel Eto’o’s Cameroon
The 2006, 2008 and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations triumphs were the crowning of Egypt’s golden generation, but even that team couldn’t break the curse and qualify for a World Cup
In the 2010 qualifiers, Hassan Shehata’s side had to beat Algeria by three goals in their last match of Group C to reach the promised land. According to FIFA’s report, the game’s official attendance was the maximum capacity of the Cairo International Stadium (75,000), but in reality, it was way more than that — even the stairs were full with spectators
The build-up to the day was an emotional charge that could have lit up all of Cairo, reaching its peak when Emad Moteab scored a stoppage-time goal to make it 2-0
Plenty thought that Egypt had qualified because of their away goal in the 3-1 defeat in the previous game against Algeria, but their identical overall record in the group forced a play-off in Sudan, where Shehata’s side underperformed and lost 1-0
There was a similar scenario brewing in the 2018 qualifiers, but a certain Mohamed Salah carried Egypt to the World Cup in Russia, scoring five goals and netting a 94th-minute winner in a 2-1 victory over Congo to seal Egypt’s qualification
However, Salah’s shoulder injury in the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid affected his preparation. Add in a fiasco of a camp, where celebrities had access to the team’s hotel, and subpar performances in defeats against Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the hoodoo appeared stronger than ever
During the first half of the 2021-22 season, Salah was comfortably the best player in the Premier League, and led Egypt to the final of the AFCON under the guidance of Carlos Queiroz in February 2022
A penalty shootout defeat against Senegal in that AFCON final was a bitter pill for the Egyptians, especially with Salah unable to take the fifth penalty. The following month, it was another penalty shootout against Sadio Mane’s side in the play-off for the 2022 World Cup
Salah stepped up first for Egypt and missed the target. Two more misses by Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Mostafa Mohamed, and Egypt’s World Cup nightmare was back to haunt them
It’s why the 2026 World Cup is such a huge landmark in Egyptian football history. Hassan’s side not only managed Egypt’s first World Cup win, but they have also performed impressively in their matches against Belgium, New Zealand, Iran and Australia
As the round-of-32 stalemate against Australia neared a penalty shootout, memories of the misses against Senegal came to mind. Egypt had lost their past four penalty shootouts before Salah and his team-mates stepped up to face substitute goalkeeper Mat Ryan
Mahmoud Saber and Ramy Rabia scored the first two, before Salah elegantly chipped the ball into the middle of the goal and Hossam Abdelmaguid scored the winning penalty kick
For many years, the World Cup had proved to be Egypt’s stumbling block, but the hoodoo is finally over
Palermo no longer stands on its own — Seattle, Vancouver and Arlington are right next to it
