CAIRO: Egypt’s national football team made history Sunday night, retaining the African Cup of Nations title for the third consecutive time, and seventh overall, after beating Ghana 1-0 with Gedo’s goal in the last five minutes.
Millions of Egyptians inside and outside Egypt celebrated Egypt s victory. Fans flooded the streets waving flags and shooting fireworks celebrating what many considered the best compensation for failing to qualify for the World Cup 2010.
Egyptian players dominated individual prizes with Ahmed Hassan winning the Best Player of the Tournament prize, Essam El-Hadary crowned Best Goalkeeper and Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo’ finished as the tournament s Top Scorer.
The third consecutive victory gives Egypt the privilege of keeping the cup forever.
The game s only goal came by super-sub Gedo in the 84th minute after he received Zidan s through pass and fired the ball into the net. Gedo scored his fifth goal of the tournament earning the title of best substitute in the tournament.
The game, played in very high temperatures and humidity, started with Ghanaian pressure in an attempt to snatch an early goal. However, Egyptian players relied on their wide experience to gradually get back into the game through Emad Meteb s header in the eighth minute that was too weak to cause Ghanaian goalkeeper, Kingson, any trouble.
The Ghanaians responded shortly after through Asamoah Gyan s shot that went just wide. Ghana’s Black Stars adopted a defensive strategy depending on counter attacks using their young players speed and energy.
On the other side, the Egyptian team, having played the semi-final only 48 hours before, seemed tired and couldn t deliver balls to Mohamed Zidan and Meteb in front, leaving them surrounded by four Ghanaian defenders.
Team captain, Ahmed Hassan, had two attempts from long range shots; but both went wide.
Egypt s best chance came from Zidan s shot from a distance in the 25th minute but it missed the target.
Both teams were wary of conceding a goal and so kept the ball in midfield without launching organized attacks until Koman Kolibali whistled for the end of the first half.
The second half started with Egyptian pressure that was met with physical challenges from Ghanaian defenders that earned Obuko a yellow card after an aggressive tackle on Ahmed Al Mohammadi.
Ahmed Hassan continued his long range shots; while Ghana responded through a free kick in the 53rd minute taken by Gyan but the ball went over the bar.
Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata started making changes after several players showed inability to continue the game; he fielded Mohamed Abdel Shafi instead of Sayed Moawad.
The substitution reinforced Egypt s attack; however several defensive mistakes could have seen Ghana scoring its opener; Andre Ayew s shot in the 59th minute from a deflected ball from Abdel Shafi shockingly missed the goal.
Gyan again fired a shot in the 61st minute that hit the net from the outside; Meteb then failed to use Ahmed Hassan s ball in the 68th minute albeit being in a one-on-one situation with Kingson.
Meteb was then substituted by Gedo shortly after this ball; while Ghana continued wasting dangerous chances and Essam El-Hadary intervened twice to keep away Gyan s shots.
From a counter attack, the ball reached Gedo who exchanged passes with Zidan to find himself in front of the goal to score Egypt s winner.
Ghana desperately tried to change the score but to no avail.
We faced a big team that comprises excellent players like all teams we met in this tournament, Shehata said after the game.
With this win, Egypt continues to dominate the African football scene winning its seventh title and third in a row as well as continuing its record of 19 games without a defeat.
Ahmed Hassan and El-Hadary are the only players to lift the African Cup four times.
Egypt has beaten four out of five teams which qualified to the World Cup which most analysts considered a sign of Egypt s readiness to represent Africa in the World Cup.
