It’s football and only football for Egypt in the foreign press this morning, after the country’s national team broke a nearly-30 year-old curse, successfully securing a spot in the FIFA World Cup that will be played in Russia next year.

Elsewhere? “Cairo is a place of chaos and contradictions at every turn,” a British expat writes about navigating life in Cairo. She describes ours as a city “with a tenacious soul, an inextinguishable energy and a remarkable ability to excite, enthrall, enchant and infuriate in equal measures… a city of stark and disorienting contrasts, with very little offering for those seeking a safe, moderate, middle ground.” Cairo, “for better or for worse, is the smallest big city in the world … is also a place of palpable energy, soul, and beauty, which can make appearances often at the strangest and most unexpected moments,” she writes.

Also worth noting in brief:

• The arrest of LGBTQ citizens in Egypt is still making foreign headlines, with a new spotlight on the story from The Guardian.
• Egypt’s candidate for UNESCO leadership, Moushira Khattab, is not qualified for the post due to her silence and “sometimes complicity” in repressive policies, the head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information Gamal Eid said, the AP reports.
• The Egyptian government stepped up security efforts to protect minorities, Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, the head of the Coptic Catholic Church, said, according to Crux.