LUANDA, ANGOLA // Hassan Shehata's Egypt confirmed their place in African football history last night with a 1-0 victory over Ghana in the Cup of Nations final.
It completed an unprecedented hat-trick of titles for Shehata's side and, perhaps, began to make amends for missing out, again, on a place at the World Cup.
Both Egypt's captain, Ahmed Hassan, who has now won four Nations Cups, as many as any other country, and Mohamed Zidan, the forward, had both spoken of the need to make a point after missing out on the showpiece in South Africa, and they certainly did that.
In this Nations Cup, Egypt won every game they played, racking up 15 goals in their six matches, while beating four teams - Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and Ghana - who will be at the World Cup, by an aggregate score of 11-2.
"It's not the greatest team of all time," said Shehata, " but they've won three championships and this team has played the best.
"Today we're the best team in the CAN. Before there were good teams like Ghana and Angola - and Algeria are a good team, but today we are the best team in Africa."
He refused to confirm whether he'd be back for the next tournament to be hosted in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.
Without question Egypt were the best team at the tournament, but last night represented their sternest test.
Ghana, badly affected by injury to key players, had surprised with their progress to the final but despite an inexperienced line-up they took the game to their opponents. Egypt, who lost to Algeria in a bad-tempered World Cup qualification play-off in Sudan in November, started with nine of their winning team from two years ago while only two of Ghana's side had been born when they last won the Nations Cup in 1982.
"We played well," said the Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac. "But we are not an experienced team and in the end the experience of the Egypt team was crucial. This was a big experience for the World Cup. We still have plenty of time to prepare."
Ghana created more of the limited chances in a cagey game, devoid of any tempo and pace in the muggy and humid conditions in the Angolan capital.
There was even a sense that Ghana were beginning to mount a sustained spell of pressure when, with 84 minutes played, Mohamed Nagui, the substitute, exchanged passes with Zidan, accelerated into the box and curled his finish beyond the left hand of Richard Kingson in the Ghanaian goal to send the sizable pocket of Egypt fans into raptures.
The presentation ceremony, with its laser show and fireworks, and the cup delivered by a man who flew in with jet-pack, may have been new, but as Hassan - named man-of-the-match - accepted the gold trophy from Issa Hayatou and pointed to the skies to signal his thanks to Allah, it all felt very familiar.
As it was in Cairo, as it was in Accra, so it was again in Luanda.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Racecard
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German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
