The good news is that Egypt’s Under-23 football team is headed for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The bad news: the team lost its African crown in the process.
Morocco beat defending champions Egypt 2-1 in extra time of the final of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations on 8 July. Before the game, since the football showpiece also served as an Olympic qualifier, both teams had booked their places in the Olympics. As the third place finisher, Mali will also be visiting France.
At home at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco made history by clinching their first U-23 Africa Cup of Nations title, becoming only the fourth nation to lift the trophy since the football tournament was launched in 2011.
Egypt had to make due with a second place finish after winning the title in 2019.
On Saturday, Egypt took the lead only 10 minutes into the game after Mahmoud Saber’s shot from way out curled into the top right hand of the goal, taking goalkeeper Alaa Bellaarouch by surprise.
But just eight minutes later, Saber turned from hero to zero, receiving a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Abdessamad Ezzalzouli.
Egypt did well to hold on to their advantage despite being a man down, but the home team equalised in the 37th minute when Yanis Begraoui found the back of the net from close range. It was the first time Egypt was scored upon in the tournament following four clean sheets.
The stalemate held until the end of regulation time, sending the match into extra time. Substitute Moroccan midfielder Oussama Targhalline scored the winning goal in the 105th minute from a free kick that goalkeeper Hamza Alaa flubbed. Alaa’s view was apparently hampered by the defensive wall and did not see the ball until it was too late.
Mali was the third team to earn their Olympic ticket after beating Guinea 4-3 in a penalty shootout to clinch the bronze medal.
Guinea can still secure a place as the fourth African side at the Olympic Games but have to win a playoff against a yet-to-be-decided Asian opponent.
Egypt’s Brazilian coach Rogerio Micale said his team had dominated the game until the red card, which was reviewed by VAR and which he did not contest.
“Although I am disappointed and saddened because we had planned a winning strategy, unfortunately, the red card disrupted our plans,” Micale told the post-match press conference.
At the closing ceremony, Ibrahim Adel, Egypt’s Pyramids FC winger and team captain, received the Man of the Competition award even though it was in a losing cause for the 23-year-old.
Alaa, of Ahly Club, was voted best goalkeeper. Morocco’s striker Ezzalzouli was top scorer with three goals in five matches.
The Fair Play Award went to Guinea.
Under Micale, who has been in the job for less than a year, Egypt collected seven points in the group stage of the tournament. It reached the final after having drawn with Niger 0-0 in the opener in a match Egypt hit the woodwork an incredible five times before eventually settling for the point.
Egypt then edged Mali 1-0 and needed just one point against already knocked-out Gabon to secure a spot in the African semi-finals. Though Gabon had only pride to play for, it displayed a spirited side before going down 2-0.
The African champions then downed Guinea 1-0 in the semi-final, exercising caution against a tactically astute Guinean team.
Morocco’s win helped alleviate somewhat the pain of Wydad Casablanca losing to Egypt’s Ahly last month in the final of the African Champions League, the most coveted championship in club football on the continent.
The victory also enhanced Morocco’s global football reputation following its fairy-tale run in last year’s World Cup in Qatar in which it became the first Arab and African nation to reach the semi-finals.
Egypt will be making its 13th football appearance in an Olympics.
It has never won a football medal, placing fourth in Amsterdam 1928 and Tokyo 1964. As a result of those finishes, according to Wikipedia, Egypt is the best team never to win a medal at the Games.
In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Egypt qualified for the knockout phase after a win against Australia but was eliminated after going down 1-0 to eventual champions Brazil in the quarter-finals.
No Arab country has ever won an Olympic medal of any kind in football. Nigeria (1996) and Cameroon (2000) are the only African countries to have taken the gold medal.
The tournament in Morocco was being staged as France was burning. There had been a week of upheaval across France after a 17-year old was killed by a police officer during a traffic stop.
The killing of Nahel Merzouk, of Algerian descent, on 27 June sparked a wave of unrest with heavy clashes between police and rioters in several cities in France’s worst social turmoil in years.
By the time cooler heads prevailed, more than 5,000 vehicles had been set on fire, nearly 1,000 buildings had been burnt, damaged or looted; 250 police stations had been attacked; more than 700 police officers had been injured, and well over 1.000 arrested.
The concern was that the widespread protests and riots which lasted at least one week, were engulfing a country that in a year’s time would host the Olympics which Egypt and others will be participating in.
Questions are being raised as to whether France is stable enough to safely host international events. The world’s biggest cycling championship, the Tour de France concludes on 23 July at the Champs Elysées, a favourite spot for rioters. The Rugby World Cup is due to begin in France in September.
And, of course, there is next year’s Paris Olympics. The 2024 Olympic Games will be the biggest event ever organised in France. The country is hoping that the spectacle taking place during those 17 days will put Paris at the centre of the world — because of the Olympics, not its riots.
Even though the Paris Olympics are still one year away, and the turbulence in France subsided and the violence eased sharply, the protests highlighted that France is never too far away from street demonstrations, sometimes violent. Whether it’s the Yellow Vests or pension reform or a police killing, France always seems to turn on a dime. Even if there is no violence in the picture, general strikes occur regularly, many times seriously disrupting public transport, which could jeopardise the holding of a smoothly run Games.
Paris has hosted two previous Olympiads, the last in 1924. One hundred years later, no one should be taking anything for granted.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 July, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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