São Paulo – The Egyptians cheered. Brazilians also. Egypt’s trade consul in São Paulo, Mohamed Elkhatib, was there. When the star Salah, striker of the Egyptian national team, scored on a penalty kick against Russia, the group celebrated. The Soccer Museum, in São Paulo, gathered supporters of the Arab country this Tuesday (19) to watch the game Egypt vs Russia in a large screen, with Arab and other type of snacks provided by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
The final score was in favor of the Russians, 3 to 1, but it was Egypt the first team to score a goal on the host country of the FIFA 2018 World Cup. In its first match, Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5 to nothing. This Tuesday’s game was the debut in the tournament of Egyptian striker Salah, who is among the greatest stars of the sport currently. He plays in Liverpool, from England, and scored the goal that secured a spot for Egypt in the World Cup.
“This game could have made a difference for us,” said Elkhatib to ANBA at the end of the game. Despite the score, the consul believes that the Egyptian national team will play better in the next game, against Saudi Arabia, on Monday (25). The consul praised the initiative by the Soccer Museum of gathering the national crowds to watch the games, which allowed for the Egyptians living in São Paulo to watch their team together.
Many other Egyptians were watching the game alongside the consul. Ibrahim Essawy, 39 years old, was one of them. He watched the game with his wife and his two kids, one over a year old and the other over two years old. At halftime, with the score still 0 x 0, Essawy said that he was a little nervous because of the injury to Salah’s shoulder, but that he was confident in the national team. He moved to Brazil four years ago.
Brazilian fans were also rooting for Egypt. Student André Orsi, 20 years old, was part of this group. He decided to come to the Museum to watch the game because he soon would take a job interview in an Arab organization. Students José August Pedro and Gustavo Macedo, both 13 years old, also wished Egypt to win. They said they knew more about Egypt’s history. And from Egypt’s team lineup, they knew Salah.
And Mohamed Salah was at the Soccer Museum. A reporter from Fox Sports wore a large black curly-hair wig and a black beard, impersonating the Egyptian striker and joking with the Arabs watching the game. Salah didn’t play in Egypt’s first World Cup game due to his shoulder injury.
The score of this Tuesday’s game left Russia virtually qualified for the World Cup’s round of 16. To get there, they only need Uruguay to beat Saudi Arabia. Egypt still has a chance to reach round 16, but the odds are not great. The Saudis need to beat Uruguay and Egypt and need to do it with as many goals as possible.
The Soccer Museum is showing the World Cup games that are being broadcast during its opening hours, from Tuesday to Sunday. With the support of consulates and organizations linked to the playing countries, foreign nationals have been going to the Museum to watch the games.
The Arab Chamber is a partner of the initiative and committed to provide Arab snacks to four of the games, one for each Arab country competing in the World Cup. They did it in the Saudi Arabia game and now in the Egypt match, and they will do it again this Wednesday (20), at 9 am, when Morocco plays Portugal, and on Saturday (23), at 9 am, when Tunisia plays Belgium.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
