This week, no news item captured the attention of the Egyptian media more than the Sunday football match which qualified Egypt to enter the World Cup. Before the match, many writers had expressed the hope that Egypt would win the match. And, when that came to pass, newspapers devoted whole to information about each and every member of the team, their birthplaces, families and friends… The front page of the daily Al-Ahram read, “You made 100 million Egyptians happy”, while those of the private dailies Al-Masry Al-Yom and Al-Youm Al-Sabei read, respectively, "Thank you to the team that brought us joy" and "You honoured us". Farouk Goweida noted in his regular column in Al-Ahram that all Egyptians were in dire need of a moment joy like that was presented to them by the national team. Goweida hailed the coach and his aids who patiently withstood criticism, proving that what matters is who laughs last. Mohamed Samir did not see eye to eye with Goweida. After Egypt was qualified for the World Cup, Samir expressed the wish in Al-Yom Al-Sabei that officials at the Ministry of Youth should see that hard work is needed to improve the performance of our team. "With all due respect to the team's coach, most of the analysts, critics and sports experts have their reservations about the way the team play. This makes us feel wary that the team may lose even when playing against weak rivals. No compliments are accepted in that matter as this will not help in the World Cup." Columnist Yasser Ayoub wrote that the thousands of Egyptians who took to the streets to celebrate after the match deserved their moment of joy. "Although I am deeply and genuinely grateful to [forward] Mohamed Salah, [goalkeeper] Al-Hadary and all those who ran the affairs of the team," he wrote in Al-Masry Al-Youm, "when I celebrated on the street I felt that it was us, the people who made the achievement. The people are Egypt's real power whether on the football court or in other fields. They are our hope for a better future." Figures in the news: Inflation at 32.9% The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) declared that inflation fell from 33.2 percent in August to 32.9% in September. World cup 2018 World cup 2018 Egypt By Amgad Rasmi, Asharq Al-Awsat
