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“Mido is a very young and talented player. He fell down
after being substituted in the very important and critical
match. The time was very critical for Egypt. He was angry
because he wanted to score so much in the Senegal net. I am
sorry to say that he lost himself. But he was happy after
he saw that Amr Zaki scored. Zaki was the player who replaced
Mido.. And Mido came one day later and apologised to us and
to our manager. Banning him from the final was the biggest
punishment for Mido. But I think we need to win Mido back
for Egypt. He has a bright future..”
Egypt faced Ivory Coast again after meeting in the World
Cup qualifiers. But this was the ACN final and Egyptians filled
the Cairo Stadium to full capacity. President of Egypt, Hosny
Mubarak was also seated, watching his players. The match was
hard for both teams and they saw a long final with extra time.
Ahmed Hassan took a huge responsibility during that time..
“I am the penalty taker of the team. I didn't stress
myself after we won a penalty. I kicked and the ball hit the
post. The keeper didn't save it. I fell down after I couldn't
score. But I was the captain! I remembered that if I gave
up the match, all the team may give it up. I then forced myself
more and came back after two minutes. I also came to the penalty
kick in the front row in the shoot-out. After the match, I
thought that it may have been better to miss the first penalty,
because it was not a certain penalty. If we had won the match
with that penalty goal, people could have said that Egypt
won the cup through the referee. I think we deserved the cup
and it might have marred our success.”
Ahmed Hassan still holds his excitement in his eyes. He cannot
forget the moments after the match, “Seventy-four million
people were happy. President Mubarak and all the politicians
congratulated us. People forgot their economic problems and
I was one of the people who lived this happiness..”
The Egyptian magazine “Egypt Today” journalist
Karem Ezzeldin’s comments about the tournament and his
words about Ahmed Hassan summarise the player’s performance.
“Ahmed Hassan was energetic as he always is. He showed
that he is a real warrior who doesn't accept to lose.”
Five teams won qualification to the World Cup from the African
continent. But only two of them, Tunisia and Ivory Coast showed
themselves in the cup. Can the African teams present their
continent in Germany as well as the continent deserves?
Hassan comments, “Ivory Coast and Tunisia are good teams
just as Ghana are. But Togo and Angola have no chance to be
promoted from their groups. For example, Angola qualified
to the World Cup through their home form. They played matches
at 45 degrees centigrade. The away teams couldn't take their
breath in the matches and this affects them physically. They
did not have that advantage in Egypt. In the 2010 World Cup,
the first five nations in the ACN will represent the continent.
This year it should have been the same. And we could have
seen better teams for Africa in the World Cup. But believe
me, I prefer the African Champions title than to qualify to
the World Cup.”
There were many players from Turkey in the African Cup of
Nations. Ahmed Hassan knows this and he is happy. “I
was showing the players on television those who were playing
in Turkish Super League in the Cup period. I talked about
the performances of Saidou, Song, Hamidou and Kala before
the Cameroon match. Everyone knows the strength of the Turkish
League.”
Ahmed Hassan says that some Egyptian players wanted to come
to the Turkcell Super League. “In the cup time, lots
of managers and scouts came to the tournament from Turkey.
I think there will be seven to eight Egyptian players in next
season’s league. But there is only one problem. Egyptian
clubs want to earn money when they sell their good players.
They want to take big offers for their players.”
FINALLY... BESIKTAS
Ahmed Hassan thinks it unnecessary to talk about Besiktas’
poor two seasons, “Stability is important in football.
We changed too many managers. We have very good players but
this crisis comes to all clubs in the world. Fenerbahce and
Galatasaray also lived these crises. Manchester United, Barcelona,
Real Madrid also passed through their bad times.. The way
our team is progressing is not bad. We will be in the Championship
race with some new transfers next season..”
Follow EP to know more about Ahmed Hassan…
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