Hossam Abdelmaguid puffed out his cheeks, began his run up with exaggerated slowness, checked and then, as Mat Ryan fell to his left, put the ball to his right. Harry Souttar and the 18-year-old Lucas Herrington had already missed for Australia and Egypt, having scored all of their penalties, were through. Abdelmaguid ran off to the corner, ripping off his shirt, and was soon joined by an ecstatic posse of Egyptian players. Mohamed Salah, who had converted a Panenka, was in tears, and the manager, Hossam Hassan, was in tears. Don’t worry about the scrappy, largely formless game from which the emotion stemmed: Egypt had won a World Cup knockout tie for the first time.
“My heart and soul are with the Palestinian people,” said Hassan. “I thank them and dedicate this victory to them. We succeeded in making Arab people proud. I wanted to win for the sake of the good people. God is honouring us because of the good people who are here.”
