The verdict is in: Egypt's national soccer team is everyone's favourite Valentine this year as Egyptians continued to bask in their mood of elation and pride. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab delights in an unprecedented Valentine's season It is quite fitting to have red hearts of all shapes and sizes strewn all across the capital's store windows, capturing the sentiments of all Egyptians who have flung open their hearts to happiness for the heroic Pharaohs' historic victory this week. Valentine's Day has unquestionably found its way to the hearts of all Egyptians this year, as they poured their love out to their triumphant champions of Africa. I was having my nails done last Friday, when I noticed that my 22-year-old manicurist had lost her voice. "I'm sorry you're sick, Eman," I sympathised. "No madam, I'm not sick," she said, her eyes gleaming. "I was cheering our soccer team. I watched the game in a café on the street with my family and neighbours. I shouted a lot and we stayed up all night dancing and singing. I lost my voice, but I'm really happy. I love those soccer heroes because they make us happy, although I don't know anything about the game." She could not stop talking about Egypt's stars all through my manicure session and, unsurprisingly, a few other staff members and customers joined, expressing their pride in their beloved national team. It has been a virtual festival during the past few weeks as Egypt's soccer team played in the 26th African Cup of Nations in Ghana. "Masr...Masr," Egypt, Egypt, was all you could hear from young and old -- a cheer you couldn't have missed day or night on the streets, in clubs, at malls, in homes and almost everywhere else. Five songs were especially composed for the team, which were continuously replayed on radio and advertisements supporting the team were repeatedly aired on TV. Streets were crammed with people till the wee hours on match days. Hordes of people holding Egypt's flags and wearing its colours -- red, white and black -- went out at night to cafés, their seating arrangements organised to resemble semi- stadiums, to watch the games and celebrate the victory they were confident their team would achieve. Walk the streets, take the subways, go to the hairdresser, or take part in the Friday prayer -- the names of Egypt's soccer heroes were mentioned with love and passion. Their victories and first-rate performance have gathered the Egyptians around one table of love -- an attitude that prevailed in many other countries around the globe where Egyptians were assembled. "They have to win," Am Farag, a 69-year-old shoemaker said before the final. "We are not at the top anymore in any field as we used to be and this feeling of frustration kills us. I'm sure our boys won't let us down, we pray for them day and night." Am Farag put his work, repairing shoes on hold several times on match days, even though it was the only source of income for his family. "They play with their hearts to make us happy, and we love them with all our hearts," he said. This outpouring of love and support in this football- loving nation of 80 million people is significant on a number of levels. Analysts believe it is in large part a consequence of deep-seated social, economic and political frustrations, as much as being sheer patriotism and passion for the game. Within seconds of the final whistle being blown at the end of the Sunday final, the Egyptian capital erupted into a cacophony of noise and a blur of light. Most of Cairo's main streets and roundabouts were brought to a halt as jubilant fans climbed atop buses and cars, chanting, dancing and beating drums. Most people drove around and around honking their car horns and waving flags, as bystanders stood for hours to join in the festivities. ??This new face of love that prevailed last month in Egypt and was crowned on Sunday night is wonderfully suited to today's red celebrations worldwide. Traditionally, Valentine's Day focuses on love and lovers, but is the concept accommodating enough to encompass other expressions of affection, such as mass love? Would an unadulterated, cohesive and earnest adoration of a nation for its football heroes who brought them sheer joy count? In search of an answer, I asked different people of different ages whom they would like to send a message of love to on Valentine's Day. Almost everyone gave me the same spontaneous answer: "Our national team, of course." "It's very rare to find the Egyptians all agreeing on one issue except that of love," said Ali Suleiman, a psychologist. "They are a passionate nation. They love their religion, their prophets, their land, their teams and any success they could achieve. They appreciate any effort done for the nation and they cry in both states of happiness and sadness. They love to support each other and find in such gatherings a relief." This general state of national love and heightened expectations for victory undoubtedly buoyed up Egypt's players, helping them to clinch their historic triumph. Sabrine, the wife of Egypt's goalkeeper and star of the team, Essam El-Hadari, attended the matches with her kids and friends in a café in Mohandessin. "I love El-Hadari and the team a lot, especially when I hear people around me talk of them lovingly. I feel that all Egyptians are members of one big family of the football heroes," she said. Sabrine was one of the people who made the seven- hour trip to Ghana last Sunday to attend the final against Cameroon in support of her husband and the team, and returning with them. She left her kids, Shahenda 10, Shadwa 7, Shahd 4, and Yassin, seven months, with her aunt. "I'm really proud of my father," Shahenda said. "He plays well and he saves many goals. I love him a lot. All my friends love him too." Shahenda dreams of being a football player when she grows up. Little Shadwa kisses her father's picture every morning and night and wishes him a good game before every match. Nora, player Ahmed Fathi's wife, was very happy to see her husband scoring the first goal against Cote d'Ivoire in the semi-finals, which paved the way to a 4-1 victory over the Elephants. Unlike Sabrine, who has become accustomed to such tournaments, Nora, 21, this is all novel to her as she is newly-wed and is expecting a baby soon. "I miss him a lot," she said. "This was the longest time he travelled away." Nora has become a celebrity in her family and neighbourhood because of Fathi. "Everyone talks to me and asks me about him, especially the kids in our family. I have become the primary source of information." Nora was never a football fan. She used to shun being in places where matches are being watched. However, it seems love can change everything. "I used to hate football, but now I eat football, drink football, talk football. I am an expert. He rings me before the match to ask for my prayers and after the match to hear my opinion." Being a timid person, Nora did not go to the airport to receive her hero, preferring to stay at home to prepare his favourite dish: cabbage fingers stuffed with rice and pigeons. She also made him a surprise tart with his picture on it and prepared a special gift for him for Valentine's Day. Whether you are a football fan or not, love is unmistakably in the air, imbuing a nation with a delightful aura of happiness and contentment. If football has been the food of love, so let it play on, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Inspirational and everlasting quotes to cherish and get you in the Valentine's Day mood: ï "I loved you once, I love you still, I always have, I always will..." ï "Love is like a mountain, hard to climb, but once you get to the top the view is beautiful." ï "Every time I think of you, I fall for you all over again; at this rate, I'll never stand up again." ï "Every touch reminds my heart just how much I love you." ï "When the world stops turning, and the sun fails to set, when my side of the world is burning, only then, might I forget." ï "Multiply it by infinity, take it to the depths of forever and you'll still only have a glimpse of how much I love you." ï "For yesterday's memories, today's love, and tomorrow's dreams I love you." ï "I love you. There is nothing else to do, run and I will run with you." Jocelyn, from the movie A Knight's Tale. ï "The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart." ï "If you're asking if I need you, the answer is forever. If you're asking if I will leave you, the answer is never. If you're asking what I value, the answer is you. If you're asking if I love you, the answer is I DO." ï "If I had to choose between breathing and loving you, I would use my last breath to say, 'I love you.'" ï "More than you would ever know, more than I could ever show, more -- much more -- with each passing day, Darling, I love you." ï "If loving you is a sin, I'll sin till I die." ï "The first time you fall in love, it changes your life forever and no matter how hard you try ... the feeling never goes away." From the movie The Notebook. ï "Never knew I could feel like this, like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss and I love you until the end of time." From the movie Moulin Rouge.
