Egypt midfielder Haissem Hassan was left in cloud nine after the North Africans secured their place in the Round of 16 in dramatic fashion at Dallas Stadium on Friday.
The Pharaohs created fresh history in Dallas as they earned their first knockout win at a FIFA World Cup final, beating Australia 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. In their previous match, the Pharaohs had beaten New Zealand to record their first victory on the world stage.
“Honestly it’s incredible, because you know that in Egypt there are 120 million people you’ve made happy today, and you know that today there will be celebrations across the whole country,” Haissem Hassan told FIFA.com after the game.
“Knowing that you made so many people happy makes you happy too. I think it’s a perfect day. We’re very happy, we’re already looking forward to celebrating in the locker room. Afterward, we expect a lot of Egyptian people waiting for us at the hotel. Today is a day to celebrate.”
Analysing the overall game, Hassan said: “Honestly, (it was) a match full of emotion. We started off winning, then they equalised. “There were chances on both sides. In the end, everyone knows that with penalties, either you get through or you’re eliminated.
“There was a lot of pressure, but in the end, thank God, we managed to win. We’ve entered Egypt’s history. Today is a perfect day.”
Hassan concluded: “For now, we’re only thinking about celebrating this, because I think there’s time for everything. “There’s time to work, and time to celebrate. Now it’s our turn to celebrate. We’ll start working on preparing for the match against our next opponent, but for now we’re very happy.”
Speaking after the game, Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubi said: “It was Egyptian ‘grinta’ (grit), it’s something in our genetics, it’s something amazing.
“We fight until the end, even the next game, even if we play more games, we’re going to fight until the end. Even if we have shortages in some places because we have a lot of injuries.
“We fight until the end for the fans, for the country and for ourselves.”
Shoubi added: “History is written. We can’t believe that we did this to achieve this level.
“Since the first day for us here, we spoke with each other that we will not come here to play only the group stage and go back home. “We tried our best and then luck was with us. Of co
