Cairo erupted with joy on Sunday after the national football team's 1-0 triumph over Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations final that secured Egypt's third successive championship on the continent. A huge roar rose over the teeming Egyptian capital as Mohammed "Gedo" Nagy scored in the 85th minute, clinching victory for the Pharaohs in the final played in the Angolan capital. Delirious Egyptians rushed into the streets from homes and cafes, draped in the national flag. "Egypt, Egypt!" cried dozens of fans as they darted between cars in the Dokki district, blocking traffic. Egypt's victory in the Africa Cup of Nations was the country's seventh and also took the Pharaohs into the record books as it was their third win of the title in a row. The win also gave veteran coach Hassan Shehata a history-making third championship after Cairo in 2006 and Accra in 2008 and extended Egypt's unbeaten record in the competition to an astonishing 19 games. Shehata's assistant, Shawky Garib, said: "I'd like to congratulate Ghana for what they did today. It's important to take your chance, and today we took it. But we respect the Ghana team; they played a very good match today.” Ghana coach Milovan Rajevic, who has worked wonders to put the World Cup qualifiers into their first continental final in 18 years with most of his top players injured, commented: "We are not so experienced, we wanted to win it so badly in our hearts but in the end Egyptian experience was crucial." Egypt were unchanged from the XI that crushed Algeria 4-0 in the semi-finals save for the absence of suspended defender Mahmoud Fatalla - former Spurs midfielder Hossam Ghaly started in his place. Ghana named an identical line-up to their last four win over Nigeria, with captain Richard Kingson taking up residence between the posts despite a late fitness scare. The Black Stars made it to the final playing pragmatic rather than beautiful football, but they began in enterprising fashion, matching the Egyptians for speed and dexterity. In-form striker Asamoah Gyan had an early shot go high over the Pharaoh's crossbar and Serie A-based Kwadwo Asamoah had a long range effort safely scooped up by Essam al-Hadary as the supposed 'underdogs' counter attacked with menace. Towards the end of the first period both skipper Ahmed Hassan, on his 172nd international appearance, and Emad Meteeb, failed to connect with a floating 25m Egyptian freekick into the box. Honours even it was as the sides re-emerged after the break with the 50,000 capacity Chinese-built stadium by now three-quarters full and the near 40 degree heat which greeted the players at kick-off cooling down as night fell. Opoku Agyemang went into Mali referee Coulibaly Koman's book for an ill-judged tackle on Ahmed al-Mohamady and not to be outdone Egypt's Sayed Moawad picked up a yellow card seconds later for handball. Koman had his hand in his pocket again to fish out a card for al-Mohamady after a collision with Opoku. The game badly needed a goal but what it got was another booking, this time Ghaly for pulling Asamoah. Shehata brought on supersub Gedo with 20 minutes left for Meteeb hoping the Al-Ittihad striker would repeat his magic. Ghana's best chance came in the 78th minute when al-Hadary did well to punch away Gyan's lethal looking 28m freekick as Ghana's youngsters had Egypt's red shirts on the run. Then unbelievably, with the game heading towards extra-time, Gedo conjured up the decisive goal with a sublime 1-2 with Zidan down the left to slot an angled shot past Kingson.
