By popular request (first by mother and now by David), I'm going to start updating things here a bit more often.

I just got back to Cairo this afternoon for my classes!

Go Egypt!!! Friday night, they won the Africa Cup Soccer Championship! And I was there cheering them on! We arrived 4 hours early and were very surprised to see the stadium already quite full!!! Thankfully, we still managed to get some decent seats to enjoy the pre-game cheering and then the match itself.

This was my 2^nd time to see Egypt play in this tournament. We did our ticket-buying far in advance and then Egypt was nice enough to keep winning so that we could see them play again! *grin*

Friday afternoon, the crowd was really lively. Go figure – 99% were cheering for the home side! People had nearly perfected their costumes and face-painting! They also got a chance to practice their French, at least in banner-writing!

One change from earlier matches was that there was a marching band for this match! I certainly didn't expect that!!!! Nor did I expect part of the band to be dressed in pseudo-pharonic garb! *laugh*

Pres. Mubarek and 1^st Lady Suzanna were in attendance and we watched the military helicopter fly overhead to bring them to the parking lot. It didn't surprise me that he was there, but in class today I had a long conversation with students about the match. They said that it is new for the 2 of them to show this much emotion over a sporting event. My students liked that they both (especially the Prez.) were just acting like normal people. I guess Suzanna was waving a flag and jumping up-and-down at times!!!

And they had a lot to cheer about!

The crowd was really loud at the beginning of the game, but then simmered down b/c the 1^st half was a real defensive battle! Quality play, but not much to really fire up the crowd.

Half-time was good to re-energize folks and roll through the 2^nd half. Score: 0-0. Yup...another match going to extra time.

15 minutes – no goals
another 15 – no goals

And then? Shoot-out!!!

Amazingly, Egypt's goalkeeper stopped 2 of the first 3 attempts against him! (very difficult to do) When he stopped the first one, it just sent a blast of energy through the crowd. With the 2^nd stop, it kicked up the energy level another notch. When all was said and done, Egypt scored on 4 of its kicks to Ivory Coast's 2.

The crowd? It went wild, to say the least! People were flinging their inflated noise-makers into the air, tossing their hats, etc. No high-5s, but lots of hugs and smiles!

We stuck around for a bit of the medal/trophy ceremony and then decided to slip out to beat the rush on the way out.

But we weren't allowed to leave. We went up and out of the stadium to the walkway and headed for the gates, only to find that the gates were closed. Yes, we were a bit confused.

However, our confusion was soon interrupted by the HUGE fireworks display. They were setting them off just outside the gates we wanted to use, so were were thankful that they weren't allowing people out! Nice display! Probably 15 minutes of constant explosions!

After that, we went out these gates and then for a 5 minute walk to the main gate and to the street. All inside the stadium, the cheering/celebrating continued and everyone was so happy! It was great to see! On the street, it reached another level!

Taxis with people hanging out the windows...pickups with people packed in the bed and sitting on top...cars with teenager sitting in the trunk with legs dangling out...flags...people on shoulders...families/couples/groups.

Now this isn't just people from inside the stadium. People were coming from all direction on foot and in cars to join in on the fun!

We thought about trying for a taxi, but ended up walking about 25 minutes and then catching a tram to where we were sleeping. What a trip! Everyone in my group was decked out in red/black/white, so as we walked past groups of soldiers, people in stores, or out in front of their apartment buildings, they would cheer for us/Egypt and we would wave and yell!

Then...fire. Now this was nothing compared to what I heard about at Michigan State University when they used to celebrate/riot, but these folks were doing their best.

It seems those “keep away from open flame” on spray cans like bug spray are there for a reason. If lit on fire, the streams make a torch about 3 feet in length!!! That's just a guess on the length b/c I wasn't getting close enough to really tell!!! *grin* But I saw several people doing it!!

We also saw people pouring gasoline on the street and then lighting it on fire!

Crazy!

I guess there's a reason the U.S. Embassy issued a warning on Thursday for U.S. Citizens to be careful around celebrations for the match!

Finally, we got to a tram stop and continued our party-watching from a tram. Good to get a different vantage point and be a little bit removed from things...but we could still see the partying out the windows.

Fun, fun, fun!!

While typing this, I've been half-watching an interview program on TV with the coach, captain, several players, and some singers who did songs for the tournament. They're also showing a few clips from the matches, but mostly it's crowd shots and short talks with people before/during/after the match yesterday. Cool to see!

As a closing note, I'll share a bit from a talk in class today. I had my students talk about the championship match for them to talk and also get some new vocabulary. One of the points they really were impressed by was how many young women and families were at the matches. I had also been surprised by this, so I encouraged them to talk a lot about this.

Apparently, matches in the Egypt club leagues are almost exclusively attended by men. Women don't see it as safe b/c thing are not well organized and fights often fight out between teams or spectators.

So...this was the first time for people to see such diverse crowds. My students seemed quite pleased and hope that this is the beginning of a change in the way things are done. I hope so too!

For a different perspective (from a friend who watched on TV and I sent updates to about the crowd, etc) see:

http://www.smsevcik.blogspot.com/