Giuseppe Acconcia reflects on the football event of the month It is six o'clock on Thursday evening in downtown Cairo, and everybody is talking about tonight's game: the Under-20 World Cup Egypt-Italy match. I am with two Italian and two Egyptian friends, heading towards the Cairo Stadium. My first time! We left our wooden Cleopatra seats empty at the cafeteria and took a minibus from the Islamic Museum to Sayida Aisha and then another from Sayida Aisha to Heliopolis. On the way the young Egypt supporters, their cheeks painted the colours of the flag, frequently make reference to the famous Italy-Egypt 0-1 of last June. Tonight, they believe, their team will easily defeat the World Champions one more time. A long queue of public buses clogs the streets around the stadium. In the last minutes before the starting whistle, touts sell 20-pound tickets for the third tiers. The gates are crowded. Groups of young men and a few women wearing red, black and white scarves are slowly entering. We find seats on the last tiers of the arena among Egypt supporters. The view is amazing. What do Egypt fans look like? Painted or coloured shirts and faces, flags, plastic sticks, drums... And they are shouting "Obbah eh, obbah ah! Inshallah, we'll win". The two national flags are carried into the arena and the stadium sings the Egyptian hymn. Next to us, noticing that there are Italian-looking foreigners, curious people start to ask questions, they seem to shout with more energy once they have registered our presence. And then the match starts. More than 60,000 people are singing "Masri, Masri!" Egypt does starts off in a rousing style. Mohammed Talaat and Ahmed Afroto are both playing close. At 23 ins, Talaat backs into the weak Italian defence, allowing Ahmed Shoukri, the Ahly player, to score his first goal. Among the public, a lot of young boys wear shirts of their myths: Figo, Henry and Messi. Choruses encourage Afroto. "Yalla, all of Egypt is with you". Ten Mexican waves invade the stadium.Six minutes later, the Egyptian defence is punished by Umberto Eusepi, a talented Genoa player. "Talaat is the best tonight", says Mahmoud, wearing a red-and-white wig. "But," he thinks, "the young players don't have much technique". At 45 ins, Ahmed Shoukri controls the ball well in the Italian area and triumphs over Vincenzo Fiorillo, the Sampdoria goalkeeper. The Egyptian players celebrate the goal kneeling down in the pitch. "I like the match. We come to the stadium once every three months", says Alaa, a young girl. "Afroto is fantastic. But my favourite player is Abotreca", she concludes. People next to us are looking around excited at every goal. They stand up when Egypt scores, turning their happy glances towards us. But when we stand up for Italian scoring, they turn their sad eyes down. In the second half, Italy evens again with Albertazzi: 2-2. But Talaat's substitute, Bogy, scores with a header at his first touch. The final score is 4-2: Egypt defeats Italy again. All the fans are enthusiastic. "I like the Egyptian team", confirms a satisfied Mohammed, 19 years old. "I started playing six years ago at the midfield in Ain Shams Club. I think Mohammed Talaat is the best at the moment. He scored 12 goals during the last championship. This Ahly player is fast and strong, he scores every time he touches the ball". "It was my dream to see those players", admits Omar, 14, and for the first time at the stadium. "I spend all my afternoons playing football with 10 other friends in Khalifa. I'm sorry for you that Italy lost tonight". On the way home, right after the match, the Italian side of my tiny fellowship is a bit disappointed. "The Italian team didn't play well", says Paolo, a friend and true Italy supporter. "By the way, it's been good to be in the stadium. Last June, when the senior team of Italy lost, I felt even more frustrated being in the old cafè Baiumi, (Mohammed Naguib Sq.)". Still surrounded by shouting, we take the public bus to Sayida Aisha, dreaming of the match when Italy will finally defeat Egypt again.
