English Cup summary: Liverpool - Norwich 2:5/Sport1
In the Egyptian media today (Monday) they talked a lot about "the mood of the people who were hurt" after the removal of the team already in the round of 16 of the African Championship.
The Pharaohs lost yesterday on penalties to the Democratic Republic of Congo and were eliminated after not winning a single game in the tournament;
Their three games in the group stage also ended in a draw.
Egypt holds the record for winning with seven such throughout history and is considered an "arrogant" team that always believes it is the biggest and best in Africa, even though history - at least as far as the World Cups are concerned - proves otherwise.
This is probably also the reason why the commentators this morning ranged between abysmal sadness and self-flagellation.
One of them wrote: "Everyone knew that this would happen and that we would not succeed in the tournament, but we still indulged ourselves with hope. Every child, every woman, every man, every old man, every university student, every worker, every farmer. Everyone knows the state of Egyptian football ".
Former controversial footballer Mido, who played for Ajax, Marseille and Tottenham among others and won the African Championship with Egypt in 2006, harshly criticized: "Egypt is a team with a great history, but we must talk about Mohamed Salah's place in this history. We all respected his request to fly to Liverpool to receive treatments there, but it is not possible for him to announce that he will return later - only if the national team advances to the semi-finals. His conduct caused Egypt to lose its character."
The players of the Egyptian national team after the expulsion from the 2023 African Championship/Reuters
The one who rushed to ride the waves of populism is the member of the Senate, Riham Afifi, who demands the establishment of a parliamentary investigation committee to remove the Egyptian team in the round of 16 of the African Championship.
Afifi came up for a speech this morning and demanded that the Minister of Youth and Sports and the heads of the football association be investigated by a special committee that will examine the conduct of the national team in the current tournament.
Abel also requested that the committee also examine the reasons why Egypt has not won the African Championship since 2010. In addition, it demands the appointment of an Egyptian coach after the failure of the Portuguese Rui Vitoria.
At the center of the Senate's claims is Muhammad Salah.
The great star of Arab football in general and Egyptian football in particular, was injured during the tournament and took off for treatment in Liverpool.
He did not play in the last round of the group stage in the round of 16 and the claim is that beyond the injury - his leaving the team's camp hurt her a lot mentally as well.
"The football association is behind the injustice and the lack of clarity regarding Salah's injury," claimed Afifi this morning in the Egyptian Senate, "it is to blame for the fact that it was impossible to treat him in the Ivory Coast (where the African Championship is held) and he had to fly to England."
The member of the Senate added: "It is impossible to continue to rely on foreign coaches, who are paid in dollars, while there are Egyptian football coaches who are able to promote the team. All the problems that led to the failure should be investigated and made public. If we do not solve them, the team will not succeed."
More on the same topic:
The Egyptian national team
Mohammad Salah
Egypt