President Hosni Mubarak gave the Egypt football team a warm welcome in Cairo Monday Egypt, after they made history by winning their third successive Africa Cup of Nations title and retained the trophy forever. Mubarak personally greeted coach Hassan Shahata and each of the players at Cairo Airport. The victorious squqad's homecoming was broadcast live on television. "We are used to this from the great Egyptian leader, who has supported us along our path in the competition," Shehata said after the reception. He added that Mubarak's support was one of the main catalysts in retaining the trophy. The Egyptian leader shook hands with all the players and the coaches of the team, which has been dubbed "Golden Generation of footballers". Seven-time titleholders Egypt, who beat Ghana 1-0 in the final in Angola Sunday night, were also greeted by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal, as well as by thousands of jubilant fans. Many supporters had partied at the airport overnight. The Pharaohs' victory, which Mohamed ‘Gedo' Nagy secured with a goal in the 85th minute of the final match, brought to a record seven the number of Africa Cup titles the team have won and made them the first country to clinch three consecutive wins. Thousands of jubilant Egyptians celebrated the triumph until the early hours of Monday across the nation. Hassan Saqr, the Chief of Egypt's National Sports Council, hailed the players and their coaching body describing them as an orchestrated group that is strongly motivated to make Egyptians happy. "Simply, these players are a model of Egyptians who love their country," he said. This summer's World Cup finals in South Africa will miss the seven-time champions of Africa Egyptian newspapers blared Monday. Egypt's last appearance at the World Cup came in 1990 in Italy. Their most recent flop in qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa came in November, when they were beaten 1-0 in a dramatic play-off with Algeria to miss out on this year's finals in South Africa. Their World Cup failure contrasted starkly with their dominance in the Nations Cup, which led to Shehata calling his side the greatest ever team in African football after Sunday's victory. When asked about the World Cup disappointment, Shehata gave only a shrug of the shoulders. Egypt's success in Angola, however, did have something of a World Cup feel to it. They thumped Algeria 4-0 in the semi-final in Benguela on Thursday, and beat three other World-Cup-bound teams ��" Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria ��" en route to the title. "This makes our success even better because it was the most difficult competition for us, having to beat four teams who have qualified for the World Cup," Egypt's assistant coach Shawki Gharib said. The Egyptian press hailed a "well-earned" and "historic" victory, made all the sweeter after the Pharaohs' humiliating elimination from the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa by bitter rivals Algeria. "Egyptians, kings of Africa for the seventh time," the semi ��" official newspaper Al-Ahram proclaimed on its front page, praising "an achievement without precedent, the greatest in football history". "The national squad has crushed those who qualified for the World Cup," the newspaper added, referring to its Africa Cup victories over Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria ahead of the final triumph over Ghana. "The experts were not wrong when they said ... that the world is missing out from the absence of such a great team as the Pharaohs, who should have been among those present in South Africa."
