5 - 11 July 2001
Issue No.541
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 5 - 11 July 2001 Issue No.541 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Knocking on the final door
Egypt is one win away from reaching the final of the World Military Football Championship, writes Amira Ibrahim
Defending champion Egypt is poised to reach the final of the World Military Football Championship after defeating Qatar 1-0. Only Guinea, which Egypt will play in the penultimate match, stands in the way of the Egyptian juggernaut which has won all four of its matches with relative ease.
An occasional grab of the jersey couldn't help Qatar
photo: Ayman Ibrahim
Though all four games have been won by a margin of just one goal, Egypt never looked even remotely like losing any of them. Against Qatar, Ikrami Abdel-Aziz gave the hosts the go-ahead goal early in the first half. From then on, it was just a question of Egypt biding its time until the final whistle. Qatar, which pounded the United States with five goals in its opening match, looked like putting up a fight against Egypt in the second half in search of the equaliser, but few of the Gulf state's opportunities could have been considered exceptional scoring threats.
Egypt's semi-final opponent will be Guinea, the African military champion, which prevailed against Syria in a penalty shoot-out. Guinea scored first but Syria, with seven capped players, tied. A goalless extra time led to the spot kicks in which Guinea came out on top 4-3.
Egypt beat Guinea 1-0 in their opening clash and most observers see no reason why Egypt, which has won this championship twice before, cannot do the same again.
In the other semi-final, North Korea will meet Greece. Greece, a five-time champion, had no trouble beating the Ukraine 3-1 while the Koreans flew past Germany by an identical score.
The final will be played on 7 July at 7.30pm in Cairo's Military Academy stadium. The closing ceremony of the championship, the 39th of its kind, will follow.
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