Egypt’s football excellence BS (before Salah). It’s hard to remember a time before the whole nation’s entire football achievements boiled down to only Mo Salah, although that was a pretty recent development. What non-followers of Egyptian football may not realize is that Mo Salah was the crescendo of a generation of excellence. This absence of realization was pretty evident in the lack of accolades players like Hossam Ghaly and Mido, who played abroad before Salah, and in top tier teams, received. A piece published in 2016 by True Africa did not mention a single Egyptian in its dream team of legendary African footballers. Perhaps Mohamed Aboutrika, if he hadn’t peaked at a later age and failed to venture beyond the local scene, would have been up for an honorable mention.

A tribute to the Egypt dream team: We are all grateful for the Hassan Shehata and Aboutrika “golden generation” that crowned us AFCON champions in three back-to-back editions. In 2006, 2008 and 2010, the synergy between veterans El Hadary, Mohamed Zidan, Mohamed Barakat, Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Shawky, Moteab, Hosny, and Amr Zaki was nothing short of a marvel.

Hear it from the fans: For us, this was an unmatched team, who showed us a gripping performance against Brazil in 2009, and who also prompted Tunisian Issam Al Chawali’s “el Song w Zidan,” one of the most iconic, border-line poetic pieces of football commentary ever (watch, runtime: 1:40). Al Chawalli’s spontaneous piece was uttered when Zidan, against all odds, overpowered Cameroonian defender Rigobert Song to gift Mohamed Aboutrika a 76-minute lead in the 2008 AFCON final.

Al Arabiya Sports has an excellent roundup of Egypt’s AFCON victories, which you should definitely check out.