• Home
  • Mail
  • Flickr
  • Tumblr
  • News
  • Sports
  • Finance
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Answers
  • Groups
  • More
Yahoo
    • Skip to Navigation
    • Skip to Main Content
    • Skip to Related Content

    Egypt's World Cup-clinching goal had handicapped fans performing acrobatics and old men crying tears of joy

    Henry Bushnell
    ,
    FC Yahoo•October 9, 2017
    Egypt fans celebrate in Cairo after their national team qualified for the World Cup. (Getty)

    Egypt, for the first time since 1990, is heading back to the World Cup. And it clinched qualification on Sunday in the most dramatic of fashions.

    Celebrations had been quelled when the Pharaohs conceded an 87th-minute equalizer to the Republic of Congo. But Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah secured a win, and a World Cup berth, with a penalty deep into stoppage time.

    Cue the pandemonium:

    #مصر_الكونجو مصر 2 × 1 الكونغو .. هدف محمد صلاح الثاني الى كاس العالم د95 : pic.twitter.com/tRTcmVbjlz

    — @3almiHD (@mah5060) October 8, 2017


    Salah’s goal kicked of a night of bedlam and partying across the country. Here was the scene in Cairo:

    Friend sent me this vid of downtown Cairo after #Egypt qualified for the World Cup for first time since 1990 #EGYCGO pic.twitter.com/3ZgOQ6idXK

    — Ali Abdel-Rahman (@Ali98) October 8, 2017


    But some of the best reactions came in the immediate aftermath of the winner. Multiple videos and pictures show handicapped fans eschewing wheelchairs and jumping for joy … or performing gymnastics on crutches:

    Picture of the year?

    'Football gives wings to who doesn't have legs'.

    Yesterday in Egypt after qualifying to World Cup after 28 years pic.twitter.com/hwpYgzDtwg

    — Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) October 9, 2017


    When Salah sent Egypt to the WC after 28 years, a handicapped fan jumped off his wheelchair to celebrate on one leg!pic.twitter.com/7xq4Tg2Wgq

    — Waleed Abu Nada (@waleedabunada) October 9, 2017


    The single best reaction, though, might have come from this old man watching on TV in his pajamas:

    So my dads soccer team won and this was the result…. pic.twitter.com/3zdHmf0E5P

    — صوفيا (@sdeezy_) October 8, 2017


    Here are some more videos and pictures that capture the country’s jubilation:

    The flares and chants are in full effect. Police everywhere but everyone is in a joyous mood #Tahrir #Egypt #مصر_الي_كاس_العالم pic.twitter.com/VfaRKRscI7

    — Farid Y. Farid (@FaridYFarid) October 8, 2017


    It's lit in these cairo streets tonight #Egypt pic.twitter.com/AiZD6wbrCd

    — Black Baratheon (@Shimz_Afc) October 8, 2017


    Cairo , Egypt – 8 October 2017 : Egyptians Celebrating World Cup Qualification In Tahrir Square in Cairo
    Photo | Mohamed El Raai pic.twitter.com/scBws3kCLe

    — Mohamed El Raai (@mohammedelra3y) October 8, 2017