EGYPT VS CONGO LIVE!!!!! I've never felt so EGYPTIAN!:)

3rd of Feb, 2006.

There is the African Cup 2006 going on. And its being held in Cairo. FOOTBALL!!
What I didn't realize was that the Egyptians are crazier than the English when it comes to footy!!
Who would have known!
On the 2nd of Feb I got a call asking if I wanted a ticket to go see the quarter final match between Egypt and Congo!
There have been two matches before this. The first one I didn't watch and I got blamed for the game tying!
I was told I was an Egyptian now..and because I didn't watch it... They tied and didn't win!
The second game I went to watch in a friend coffee shop and Egypt won (2-1)!!
Hence why I was told I have to go watch this match! I claimed that Egypt will do extremely well as I was going to watch the match!!:)
A friend of mine came to pick me up at about half 12 in the afternoon. Even though the match was not until seven!!
Apparently they shut the gates at 4 so you have to be in before that!
And the stadium itself is ffffffaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr away!!
WE met up with a few more of the girls and we were off!!
Flags out of all windows and the sun roof! Cheering away to glory!!!
Got to the stadium and I could feel the energy of the people!!:) there was thousands of people all around. Dressed in red, white and black! the Egyptian colors!
Met a few more of my friends... and we started walking in. There were so many people!!! We had to pass through 4 security gates before we actually got in!!
We got and went to get our seats!! WE were right up close... and had seat in the middle...
It was really good...
Slowly in a matter of mins the stadium got completely full up...And then started the cheers...
There were all sorts of cheers...all in Arabic of course!! There were a zillion flags being waved around, there were whistles, the Egyptian tabla which people use with the cheers, the huge drums, the horns, the big funny hats, the colorful wigs, the people with the faces painted... red, black and white!!
From four up until half six... there was so much cheering going on.. And the teams hadn't even arrived yet!!:)
Then they showed the busses for the teams pull up... As soon as that was on the screen the stadium went totally ballistic!!
There were screams and cheers...
They play four beats on the tabla and as soon as they are done, people scream " MASR!" Which is the name of EGYPT
There is soo much emotion... Can you just imagine....20,000 people screaming MASR at the same time!!!
It was totally crazy.
Then came the teams on the ground it self... Of course everyone was on their chairs and screaming out players names...
They had the two teams stand together, had the national anthems done.
Of course the national anthem for Congo went unnoticed, but when it came to Egypt. Just think about 20,000 people singing it LOUD AND CLEAR!
Anyhow... The game started and so did the cheers!!
I'll try my best to explain them to you!!
Then there was one, which is actually a song.. but its a good cheer for the Egyptians I guess... It goes like this...
" a la la la la la la la la la la la la, eh da eh da eh da eh da eh da eh da da!"
the a la la is just la la as you figured.. eh da means what's this!!
Then there was ... Hopa eh Hopa aa Insha Allah hanek Sab! Which is ... hopa eh hopa aa.. god willing we will win!
Then there was another one... This also was for the goal keeper from the Egyptian side... he does this dance when he makes a good save or when Egypt scores... So the whole stadium is screaming "Oros Hadere!" Which means Dance Hadere!!
Hadere is the guy;s name....
Then there is one where they just count... Wahd, Itnen, Taleta, Arbaa
One, two, three, four...
I didn't really figure out why they did that till after the match.. I thought it just went well with the tabla!!:)
but I realized that's its a way of saying that's how the goals keep coming. one after another!!
Its like counting goals before they come!
The Egyptian team is not a bad team. They are above average. And they can really hold up their game.
They were playing very aggressively but kept missing the goals in the first 15 mins or so.
Then came a goal from one of their players who has been in the team forever!
The man is 39 and still going strong!! After that, they just kept coming!!:)
They scored twice in the first 45 mins!! It was fantastic... every time the ball was close to any goal post... every one would stand up from their seats!! no one wanted to miss anything!!
Then Congo scored once. It was the most silly goal I've ever seen... It was sheer luck I guess...
Anyhow.. Then there was the waves in the crowd...
The whole stadium had the wave running around it... Once it started there was no way it would end unless its done about five or six rounds..!! Please were very enthusiastic!!
After the first 20 mins of so... The group I was there with, we were all going completely mad:) I was cheering with them in Arabic.. We were dancing on the chairs... clapping.. playing the table... waving the flags... screaming on the top of our lungs!!
It was amazing.. The spirit was just so high at that time I swear I felt EGYPTIAN!!
I've never felt like this before...
Maybe because it was my first time to go and see a live match.. or maybe EGYPTIANS are totally mad when it comes to footy!
No matter what... I have to say this was an experience of a lifetime!!
The next half say Egypt scoring two more goals. Egypt won 4-1!!!
Time up was the best thing ever!! It was like the whole of Egypt was celebrating!!
WE tried to rush our way out of the stadium... There were oh so many people ...
Everyone was screaming, singing... hugging each other!! so over excited.. and why shouldn't they be!!
It was so good!!! There was a strange energy... The whole of the country came together!! Its all for football!! I guess we do it when it comes to cricket as well.. But I still feel that there was more oneness here... I don't know why....
Came out and started making our way to the cars... it was like one big fat carnival outside.... people dancing on the roads.. cars everywhere.... people hooting their horns in a certain way to announce that Egypt had won... People hanging out of their cars screaming MASR absolulty over joyed with the fact that they had won!!
Roads were totally jammed... getting to places took forever!!
But the sprit was there.. which made the traffic seem a lot less painful. People walking by.. congratulating each other.. so happy... for each other:) random strangers talking and dancing together... fireworks on the roads!!!
you name it .. and it was there!!!
I've never seen people so united ever!!
I was never really a footy fan... But living in England taught me to enjoy it...
Even there I have not seen such spirit like I saw today!!
Its about 130 AM right now.. I got back home like half and hour back...and believe you me.. I can still hear the cars honking away and people screaming MASR!!:)
So after this great evening.. I was told I must go see all matches Egypt plays.. if not I must at least watch them on the telly..and My friend believe I'm the lucky mascot:)
I shall definitely do that for all of them! And for the great time and oneness they showed me!!
It was really an experience worth having and I'm glad I did!!
Who would have thought, Me and FOOTBALL!!:)
But It was GREAT!!!!!