2026 World Cup : Egypt made real Mondial history and we have all right to celebrate it

"He had once fallen under the spell of a dream, and from that moment on, the memory of that beautiful transgression would pursue him forever—a moment of freedom, of a lightness too exquisite to endure. It would remain, forever haunting him, like conscience itself."
— Arwa Saleh, The Stillborn

I doubt that when leftist activist and writer Arwa Saleh wrote these lines, she imagined she was describing how millions of Egyptians would feel for three unforgettable weeks — or perhaps for the past four decades, if not throughout much of modern Egyptian history.

Egypt was eliminated in the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after an epic, deeply controversial match against Argentina. The rest is history.

Eleven days later, I can finally finish this post, which I began writing on 8 July 2026.

Since then, Argentina has defeated Switzerland in another match that raised eyebrows and renewed questions about refereeing decisions, advancing to the semi-finals. It then overcame England in the showdown many football fans had been waiting years to see.

No one could have imagined that so many Egyptians would find themselves supporting England against Argentina.

Yet the impossible happened. England, too, experienced the same bitter final minutes, marked by controversial refereeing decisions and an unusually physical game. I cannot imagine how Egyptian and English fans who witnessed both matches felt, watching history seemingly repeat itself.

It was painful to watch, because — bias aside — Egypt played better against Argentina than either of those teams did. That only deepened the inevitable question: What if?

In a few hours, Argentina will face Spain in the World Cup final and will most likely lift the trophy.

It has been a week filled with reactions, endless "what ifs," and the familiar chorus of "Stop being dramatic, you filthy Egyptian sore losers."

But we are not sore losers.

We would have accepted the defeat — and many of us would even have celebrated Argentina's victory — had the match been fair.

In fact, before kickoff, most Egyptians, myself included, genuinely believed the national team would be heading home after facing the 2022 World Cup champions.

The joke that went viral before the match was: "Who will the Egyptian team meet after Argentina?" The answer was always either President El-Sisi or TV host Mona El-Shazly.

As it turned out, the players met both.

The reception they received was so painfully awkward that it snapped many Egyptians out of their dreamlike state of mourning and self-pity, replacing it with the one thing we never seem to lose: our sarcasm.

As soon as the team landed at Alamein International Airport instead of Cairo International Airport — where thousands, if not millions, would have welcomed them — they were swept into what felt like a carefully choreographed media spectacle tied to the "Yalla Sahel" tourism campaign, backed by several North Coast real estate developers.

Just like that, we were pulled back into bitter reality.

Meanwhile, some across the Arab world mocked Egyptians for celebrating a team that had "only" reached the Round of 16, calling us the laughingstock of the football world.

First, I'm happy if, in these bleak times of wars — especially in the Middle East — we can at least make people laugh.

Second, we have every reason to celebrate, because history was made, and no one expected it.

We are not sore losers. Our boys produced one of the finest performances in the history of Egyptian football and, against all odds, came within touching distance of defeating the reigning world champions.

For my generation — and, I believe, for generations to come — that Argentina match will simply be remembered as the Match. So will the 2026 World Cup.

For a brief moment, we were no longer a nation divided by politics, religion, ideology, or class. Even Egyptian Coptic Christian extremists and Muslim Brotherhood supporters living in the United States found themselves cheering for the same national team and singing Habibti Ya Masr at the top of their lungs.

I'm not exaggerating. This World Cup journey united Egypt and Egyptian society in a way I have not witnessed in years, and it felt completely genuine.

Nor am I alone in saying this. Many friends — including some of Egypt's finest football journalists, several of whom covered the tournament in the United States — have described the match against Argentina as one of the greatest performances in the history of the Egyptian national team.

We would not feel this angry had the referee simply made mistakes.

We know Hossam Hassan made tactical errors. No one denies that. But the referee's decisions went far beyond ordinary mistakes; they were, in our view, scandalous. At the very least, the match should have ended 3-3. Had we then lost on penalties, we would have accepted it.

Even in defeat, the Egyptian national team made history.

It was the first time Egypt had reached the Round of 16 at a FIFA World Cup, only to be eliminated by the defending world champions.

Before the 2026 tournament, Egypt had never won a single match in its previous three World Cup appearances — in 1934, 1990, and 2018. That long-standing curse was finally broken with a 3-1 victory over New Zealand in the group stage.

After navigating the group stage, Egypt advanced past the Round of 32 by defeating Australia in a tense penalty shootout. Egypt advanced further when Germany and Brazil were eliminated in the same round. Read that again, slowly. Who could have imagined seeing this day?

Egypt presented a masterclass vs. Argentina with all our tactical mistakes

Even though Egypt was ultimately eliminated in the Round of 16, they bowed out with their heads held incredibly high. They went toe-to-toe with defending champions Argentina in a five-goal thriller.

Egypt shocked the world by taking a 2-0 lead through Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko, two boys from the domestic league.

Before the World Cup friendly against Brazil, most Egyptians didn't know Ziko — the boy from the Nile Delta who, starting in 2017, worked and slept in his late father's shop to support his family.

In 2019, as a second-division player, he said it had felt impossible, at least back then, to imagine being friends with both Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Salah. By 2026, the whole world knew Ziko — including the original Zico, admiringly.

Then came that shy, French-speaking Haithem Hassan — half-Egyptian of Nubian origin, half-Tunisian — who chose to play for Egypt and showed us a masterclass.

Mostafa Shoubair, aka Oufa Shoubair, made a stunning dive to deny Lionel Messi from the penalty spot — something even his father, in his prime, never managed. Another piece of history made.

The Egyptian national team terrorized the reigning — and probably this tournament's — champions for 80 minutes, before a heartbreaking stoppage-time collapse let Argentina escape with a 3-2 win. We made Messi cry, literally, in disbelief that he'd won.

Even at the peak moment of anger, Hossam Hassan made history again by making the X sign against racism for the first time — a gesture every referee ignored, when the game should have been halted.

When he and the other players spoke about the match, criticizing the referee, little did they know they were opening the gates of hell: direct accusations against both FIFA and the Argentina Football Association. Suddenly, Argentina became the ultimate villain of this edition, after entering as the world's most storied underdog story.

Now people are rewatching footage of the match and speaking more widely about it. The world saw it, and for me, that's what matters: regular people everywhere saying the match was stolen from Egypt and that FIFA is corrupt as hell.

Gianni Infantino is facing a coup d'état from Europe — we're reading reports that European federations and clubs want someone else to lead FIFA, even as he keeps promising to expand the field for the next World Cup.

A dear friend of mine described the match, for my generation, as the elephant in the room — that match, or at least its first 80 minutes, is like a miniature version of the January Revolution. It's not too far-fetched a comparison.

Hell, if Infantino gets kicked out of FIFA in the upcoming elections — I doubt it — remember that Egypt-Argentina match. It all started there.

That's why I still celebrate it: Egypt made history at Mondial 2026, and it will be remembered for a long time, isa