Essam El Hadary celebrates Egypt’s advance to AFCON final
The Pharaohs have made it to the Africa Cup of Nations final. Veteran goalkeeper Essam El Hadary takes a moment to celebrate (and thank the heavens above) after his second successful block of a penalty shot from Burkina Faso allowed Egypt to advance to the Afcon final after an extremely tense 120 minutes of play. The Pharaohs played Burkina Faso to a 1-1 draw before winning 4-3 on penalty kicks.
Hadary reminded everyone why his nickname is “the High Dam” during nail-biter, blocking not one, but two penalties in the semi-final shootout (watch, runtime 01:06).
The Afcon final kicks off at 9pm CLT on Sunday, 5 February.
Don’t hold your breath for news of the cabinet shuffle today, the cabinet spokesman said last night. (More in Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.)
CAPMAS began gathering data yesterday for its 2017 census. The census will go on until 30 March, according to Al Masry Al Youm. It is expected to cost the state EGP 800 mn, CAPMAS Chief Abu Bakr El Guindy said.
It is rugby fans’ Christmas with the Six Nations championship, which combines the top six teams in the northern hemisphere, set to begin on Saturday. The first round of matches has Scotland take on Ireland, England take on France, and, on Sunday, Italy face Wales.
A random suggestion from one of us this morning: Having begun the week on another continent, at least one of us is very happy to be back in Cairo this morning and looking forward to a weekend with family. If you are blessed to have parents living in the same city as you this weekend, go visit them. Give them a hug. Thank them for helping make you who you are today.