The annotated water bottle, handed to Egypt’s goalkeeper Mohamed ‘Gabaski’ Abou Gabal shortly before he faced his third penalty shootout in four matches, was set to become a museum piece.
An encyclopedia of information, full of names and notes about opposition penalty-takers’ techniques, had been taped to the water bottle to help enhance the Pharaohs’ proven expertise in shoot-outs. As Gabaski clutched it, half-concealed under a towel, he seemed to have an extra weapon in the tie-breaker to decide the destiny of the 33rd Afcon.
Against expectation, Egypt lost the shoot-out and their bid to become African champions for an eighth time. There were tears, from Mohamed Salah, their totem, from Gabaski, the substitute-turned-superstar, and clear symptoms of exhaustion amid the heartbreak.
But there was also an instinct to recognise that the better team, Senegal, were lifting the trophy, that perhaps Egypt had relied too heavily on their capacity to second-guess all-comers - as the meticulous notes about the techniques of each Senegalese penalty-taker on that water bottle suggested - and on their rigorous defensive application.
Ahead of next month’s play-off against Senegal for a place at the World Cup, Egypt will have time to dwell on that. Right now, several of the Afcon silver-medalists must urgently turn their minds to the next assignment. The national team may have been dealt a blow to morale but Egyptian football will be reminded this evening that, at club level, it remains the chief flag-bearer for the African continent.
Were it not for the Afcon, Al Ahly would be going into Tuesday’s Club World Cup semi-final against Palmerias looking stronger and more like the serial African champions they are.
As Al Ahly’s manager Pitso Mosimane has repeated, letting one major showpiece, the Cup of Nations, tailgate into another, the Fifa club event, is a major calendar glitch, and leaves one participant in Abu Dhabi utterly compromised. Seven Al Ahly players were involved in Egypt’s exhausting run to the final in Cameroon.
Cairo’s most successful club and the Pharaohs have always fed off one another, usually positively, but the fact that the club was playing a Fifa quarter-final on Saturday and the national side an Afcon final on Sunday undermines the club tournament.
The clash became a severe setback for Mosimane weeks ago when the Al Ahly full-back Akram Tawfik ruptured his cruciate ligament 12 minutes into Egypt’s opening Afcon game, the 1-0 defeat to Nigeria. The casualty list grew in the last-16 tie against Ivory Coast when Mohamed El Shenawy, first-choice goalkeeper for Al Ahly and Egypt and a leader, limped off with a hamstring problem.
El Shenawy’s injury offered the chance for Zamalek keeper Gabaski to shine, to confidently take his message-on-a-bottle crib-sheet and his winning records from the shoot-outs against Ivory Coast and the semi-final against Cameroon into the tense tie-breaker on Sunday.
In the event, his one save, to keep out Bouna Sarr’s spot-kick, was balanced against Mohamed Abdelmonem striking Egypt’s second penalty against the post and Mohanad Lasheen presenting Edouard Mendy, in the Senegal goal, with a straightfoward save at 3-2. Sadio Mane then converted for 4-2 on penalties, delivering Senegal’s maiden Afcon title.
Afcon final player ratings
It was hard not to feel for Abdelmonem, who has just returned to Al Ahly from his loan spell at Future FC. He had an outstanding tournament in Egypt's defence.
Quite how ready he and Al Ahly colleagues Ayman Ashraf, Amr El Solia, Hamdy Fathy and Mohamed Sherif can be, psychologically or physically, for a Club World Cup after a month of difficult pitches, extra-time sagas and a consistently tetchy campaign in hot, humid Cameroon is moot.
How accomplished Al Ahly can still look without so many regulars was proved in the 1-0 win over Monterrey that brought them to Tuesday’s semi-final, and though Mosimane is entitled to complain about the scheduling, one lesson he to take from Egypt’s campaign is that too much of a ‘siege mentality’ can be destructive.
Egypt might have carefully prepared an informative water bottle for the Afcon final, but they went into it without manager Carlos Queiroz and his assistant Roger de Sa on the touchline. Both were suspended.
There was barely a fixture in which Egypt’s management staff were not in a heated argument with opponents or officials. Some of the spoiling tactics, the time-wasting and backchat became tiresome.
Mosimane, by contrast, urged his Al Ahly players to be positive, in spite of all the absentees. “You all deserve to be here,” he said to the several understudies as he briefed them to be vigilant and exploit the counter-attack against the favoured Monterrey.
Al Ahly will be under-strength, and underdogs, again in Abu Dhabi. But they will not take on Palmeiras feeling like a second-string version of a proud club.
