Indomitable Lions seek to break 15-year jinx
By Joe Apu
As the AFCON 2017 tournament curtain is drawn tomorrow in Libreville, Gabon, one man that would be the cynosure of all eyes is Egyptian legend, Essam El-Hadary.
El-Hadary at 44 is the oldest player in Gabon and in fact the oldest player to have featured in the African soccer showpiece.
Pharaoh’s Argentine manager, Hector Cupper only included El Hadary in the squad to play the role of a “none playing” captain. He was only to be on the bench to motivate his kid team mates as they seek to return to the tournament with a bang.
It would be noted that Egypt in spite being Africa’s best in the competition having won it a record seven times missed the last three editions.
But El Hadary has turned out to be Egypt’s pillar in the tournament. He stepped in right from the very first game against Mali when first choice keeper, Ahmed El-Shenawy copped a career threatening injury that has ruled him out of the tournament.
El-Hadary not only kept a clean slate against the Malians but went ahead to do so in the other two group stage matches and in the quarter final against Ghana which the Pharaohs won by a lone goal.
Against Burkina Faso in the semi final, El Hadary literally handed Egypt victory with his five- star performance. Apart from making several superb saves during the match that went into extra time and penalties, the keeper stopped two penalties to hand Egypt a 4-3 penalty shoot out victory over the West Africans.
El-Hadary is already looking forward to tasting another AFCON victory which would be his 5th having won the diadem four times.
After the victory over Burkina Faso, El-Hadary who won the man of the match crown said he wants to win the title again with the new generation of Egyptian players.
“Ramadan Sobhi is almost the same age as my daughter but I treat all my teammates as brothers and I treat him just like a teammate,” Hadary told the media.
Continuing he said: “It is different generations however each generation has its own personality and character. I have won four Afcon titles with the past generations because we grew up and started young together and achieved four titles. However, with this new generation they have not experienced an Afcon title. I always tell them stories and how we managed to do it. With will, determination and stamina we have reached this stage. Together as a team we shall manage to win the trophy.”
Egypt will face Cameroon in tomorrow’s final at Stade de Lamite. The AFCON 2017 final is a battle between two countries that have rich Nations Cup record. While Egypt is chasing her 8th title, Cameroon under the tutelage of Belgian tactician Hugo Broos would be gunning for victory number 5, having won the trophy four times. The last time Cameroon won the trophy was 15 years ago.