Hundreds give hero’s welcome to Egypt after best World Cup run

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A sea of fans dressed in red, white and black filled the grounds outside the airport in el-Alamein on Friday, where the Pharaohs boarded an open-top bus for a parade through the coastal city. “We are very happy with the team,” supporter Mohamed Gehad told the news agency AFP at the airport where he had travelled to welcome the players. “Their spirit was high, and ours is high as we welcome them.” Supporters waved Egyptian flags and Palestinian flags in support of nearby Gaza, as well as a poster of coach Hossam Hassan draping both flags over himself during the tournament. Egypt achieved their first World Cup win at the 2026 edition before later reaching the last 16 teams at the global spectacle for the first time following their victory against Australia on penalties. They were painstakingly close to achieving one of the tournament’s great upsets against Argentina, leading 2-0 with just minutes left to play before the defending champions staged an astonishing 3-2 comeback win. But fans remained in high spirits, dancing to the beat of drums, singing patriotic songs and wearing shirts bearing the name of team captain and former Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. Others held handwritten banners reading: “You made us proud, men.” “They reached a stage they had never reached before, and we are proud of them,” another fan Eyad Ahmed told AFP. As the team’s bus pulled away from the airport, flags rippled above the crowd, and supporters surged alongside the vehicle until it disappeared from view. “I’ll do everything in my power to ensure this is a new beginning for Egyptian football on the international stage,” Salah wrote on social media during the celebrations. The players are expected to meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday, who on social media thanked the team for its “honourable performance”. The Egyptian Football Association has also lodged a complaint against the officiating team from Tuesday’s match, with coach Hassan accusing officials of injustice, despite FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina rejecting what he called “unfounded allegations”. Hassan drew praise in Gaza after waving a Palestinian flag on the pitch following Egypt’s victory over Australia and dedicating the win to the Palestinian people. At his pre-match news conference on Monday, Hassan said the suffering of the Palestinian people was a “shame on the world” as he called on football to do more to come to their aid. During the tournament, thousands of Palestinians gathered in makeshift cafes set up inside tents or built from corrugated metal salvaged from damaged buildings to watch Egypt’s matches. On Wednesday, Palestinians in Gaza turned out in ‌large numbers to pay their respects to a senior member of Egypt’s main aid organisation, who had set up World ⁠Cup screenings in the shattered ⁠enclave and was killed by an Israeli air strike on a taxi he was in this week. The strike killed Mohammed al-Wahidi, himself a Palestinian, on the eve of the Egypt and Argentina match on Tuesday, along with three other people, including two ⁠young passers-by, siblings aged 10 and eight, in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, medics said. During the funeral, in which hundreds of people rallied, al-Wahidi’s body was wrapped in Palestinian and Egyptian flags before burial. Neighbours and friends visited his house throughout the day to pay their respects. 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