Egyptians celebrate their victory in a soccer match against Congo that qualifies Egypt for the World Cup, in Cairo, Egypt October 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
CAIRO – 9 October 2017: In Sunday’s decisive match between Egypt and Congo, Mohamed Salah scored the qualifying goal at the 95th minute, prompting the U.S., British, German, and Russian embassies to hail Egypt’s participation in the World Cup with Egyptian humor.
Already noticed and widely-liked for
, British Ambassador John Casson has tweeted congratulating Egypt in Arabic.
Casson followed up with another Arabic tweet congratulating both Egypt and the UK for qualifying; “England and Egypt qualified to the World Cup in one week. Congratulations,” following with a hashtag that translates to “the 90-millions’ dream.”
But Casson wasn’t the only British taking to Twitter to express his enthusiasm. BBC’s John Bennett also expressed his tension and eagerness for Salah’s last minute penalty goal.
Hailing Salah for his “nerves of steel,” Bennett also amusingly called Egypt a “football mad nation.”
Similarly, the Russian embassy has congratulated Egyptians on its Twitter account by posting in Arabic, saying “a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand congratulations! We’re waiting for you in Russia!”
Congratulating in “thousands” is an Egyptian and Arab style of greeting, as evident, used to emphasize the former’s zeal for the Egyptians’ victory.
Another tweet by the Russian embassy promoted Egyptians’ ability to enter Russia without a visa. The tweet said, “Egyptians! The embassy sends its greetings for the national team’s qualification to the World Cup.” A link also followed in the same tweet “for information on entering Russia without a visa.”
The German embassy in Cairo issued a Facebook post praising Salah as the “rocket.”
The post reads, “The ‘Rocket’ Mohamed Salah did it, and brought joy to 90 million Egyptians. He’s threatening to dethrone Magdy Abdel Ghani. A thousand congratulations to all Egyptians for qualifying to the 2018 World Cup.”
In a follow-up post, the German Embassy commemorated the 28-year wait, with another magical number; 60.
The post commemorates the friendly relations between Egypt and Germany, and hopes for a “steamy” match between the two national teams.
It reads:
“Congratulations for qualifying, Pharaohs! We hope to meet in a steamy match in next year’s #World_Cup_2018. Just like 28 was a challenging number for Egyptians yesterday, 60 also represents a special number for us. Do you know the secret behind the number 60?
Sixty is the number of years that Germany has not played a football match against Egypt. If Egypt plays against Germany in the World Cup, it will be the second time the two countries play a football match against each other in 60 years. The first time was in 1958 against West Germany in Mohamed Aly Stadium in Cairo. Egypt won the first match 2-1, with lead players Mohamed El Gendy, and Hanafy Bastan; Al Ahly and Zamalek clubs’ icons at the time.
Will history repeat itself again and have the two national teams meet at the World Cup 60 years after their first match?”
On the other hand, the U.S. embassy was also intently engaged in Sunday’s match. During the match, the embassy’s official Twitter account tweeted in Arabic: “Pull it together, Pharaohs!”
When the match was over and won, the embassy tweeted:
“A thousand congratulations to the Pharaohs! #Russia2018.”
This is not the first time that embassies and ambassadors in Egypt take to social media to engage with Egyptians, whether over football or any other matter. Most notably perhaps of all foreign ambassadors in Egypt, John Casson has been known to show his admiration of Mohamed Salah on Twitter many times.
The tweet reads, “Isn’t it the loveliest picture?”
The tweet was written in a colloquial Egyptian style that many native Egyptians use to converse with each other in a relaxed, funny manner. Casson’s adoption of the relaxed Egyptian manner has won him widespread favor with many Egyptians.
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