We Didn’t Win the Africa Cup of Nations and Here’s Why It’s Okay
Last night, the biggest game in Africa took place between Egypt and Cameroon, where twenty two players went head to head against each other to triumph Africa Cup of Nations. We Egyptians ended up losing…
I’m not here to talk about how sad losing was. I’m here to talk about how it’s okay that we did. With everything that has been happening in our dear Egypt, from the economy going down the drain and prices skyrocketing, to people just being miserable 24/7, it was refreshing to see 99.9% of Egyptians smiling and coming together because of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Over the past week or so, I’ve watched the games at coffee shops, bars, best friend’s place and everything in between, and the one thing that was in common in all of these places is that everyone was so together in a way I haven’t seen before. Scratch that. Everyone was together in a way I sadly never see at all.
When our star of a goal keeper Essam El-Hadary showed us why his nickname was “The High Dam,” it was beautiful to see how everyone connected to that. My grandfather fan-girled about it with my father, my little brother Instagrammed a photo of El-Hadary with a heart emoji, everyone in the streets screamed “Ta7ya Masr” and raised our Egyptian eagle high. It was beautiful.
Although we may have lost, to see the social media reactions from Egyptians far and near congratulating their team and pushing them forward to our next big challenge the World Cup; I know one thing for sure we’ll always be united when it comes to this cause.
Ahmed Youssef – Artist
Karim Samir – Marketing Manager Coca Cola Egypt
Alaa El Sheikha – Comedian
WE SAID THIS: What I’m trying to say is that we as a country need to be more united. It’s amazing how football games can do that to us, but we should learn how to do that without them. God bless Egypt!
