Egypt has made history as the first African Country to win the coveted African Cup of Nations trophy in three times consecutively sending the North Africans into a frenzy of celebration.

The Pharaoh Boys floored Ghana’s Black Stars in a tension soaked 1-0 victory in what they described as a sweet revenge for dropping from the finals of the 2010 World Cup coming up in June in South Africa.

Egypt record therefore has appeared unsurpassable as, not only have the Pharaohs won the 27th edition of the Orange CAF Nations Cup by beating Black Stars of Ghana 1-0, they have  created the unassailable history of being the only country to have won it thrice consecutively after victories in Egypt 2006 and Ghana 2008.

Sunday at the impressive 11 of November Stadium in Luanda, the boys of Hassan Shehata sweated before edging the brave Ghanaians in the 85th minute.

Going by their past record in the competition, if the Egyptians had expected an easy victory, they had a change of mind when the first half did not only end goalless, but saw the youth full Black Stars contesting every ball to the delight of their supporters.

The Ghanaians held on for 84 minutes, by which time their confidence had grown and they had started believing in themselves.

Then came substitute Nagy Gedo who exchanged a one two pass with Zidane, ran into the Ghanaian half, outwitted three onrushing defenders before placing the ball beyond the reach of a displaced Kingson in the Black stars goal.

Seeing victory slipping away the Black Stars went on an offensive throughAgyeman and substitute Adiyiah, but the damage had been done.

The match itself did not rise above the ordinary as the Egyptians seemed to be affected by the Luandan heat, while the Ghanaians preferred to sit back and size their opponents. By the 24th minute, when Asamoa’s left footer gave Haadary no problems. Zidane sounded his own entry with a shot, but it went wide.

Four yellow cards in the first eleven minutes of the second half heralded the intensity of the match as there was nothing more to choose between the two sides.

By the 70th minute, Meteeb had given way to Gedo and the substitute spent only fifteen minutes in the field before scoring the historic goal that sent the whole of Egypt wild with joy.

Egypt Assistant Coach Shawky Gharib: We said it when we came to Angola and say it again that we are African champions.

We played to win because we didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Our Strategy was to win all the matches.

This competition was the most difficult we have ever played because we played four World Cup teams.

It is easy for us to win because we have players focused before a tournament with the amount of time we spend with them.

Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary: The players we have now are about the best players of this period.

We think as a family and we are so happy that we have made all the people of Egypt very happy.

Source: CAF.

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