Egypt focusing on celebrating win over Australia before turning attention to Argentina

The Pharaohs created fresh history in Dallas as they earned their first knockout win at a FIFA World Cup final, beating Australia 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

In their previous match, the Pharaohs had beaten New Zealand to record their first victory on the world stage.

Egypt took an early lead through Emam Ashour, but Australia forced extra time after Mohamed Hany headed into his own net in the second half.

Mahmoud Saber, Rami Rabia, Mohamed Salah and Hossam Abdel-Maguid all scored from the spot for Egypt, while Jackson Irvine and Awer Mabil converted for Australia.

Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington missed for the Socceroos as Egypt secured one of the greatest nights in their World Cup history.

‘I think it’s a perfect day’

“Honestly it's incredible, because you know that in Egypt there are 120 million people you’ve made happy today, and you know that today there will be celebrations across the whole country,” Haissem Hassan told FIFA.com after the game.

“Knowing that you made so many people happy makes you happy too. I think it’s a perfect day...

“We expect a lot of Egyptian people waiting for us at the hotel. Today is a day to celebrate.”

Analysing the overall game, Hassan said: “Honestly, (it was) a match full of emotion. We started off winning, then they equalised.

“There were chances on both sides. In the end, everyone knows that with penalties, either you get through or you're eliminated.

“There was a lot of pressure, but in the end, thank God, we managed to win. We've entered Egypt's history. Today is a perfect day.”

Hassan concluded: “For now, we're only thinking about celebrating this, because I think there's time for everything.

“There's time to work, and time to celebrate. Now it’s our turn to celebrate. We’ll start working on preparing for the match against our next opponent, but for now we’re very happy.”

Egypt will fight until the end

Speaking after the game, Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubi said: “It was Egyptian ‘grinta’ (grit), it’s something in our genetics, it’s something amazing.

“We fight until the end, even the next game, even if we play more games, we're going to fight until the end. Even if we have shortages in some places because we have a lot of injuries.

“We fight until the end for the fans, for the country and for ourselves.”

Shoubi added: “History is written. We can’t believe that we did this to achieve this level.

“Since the first day for us here, we spoke with each other that we will not come here to play only the group stage and go back home.

“We tried our best and then luck was with us. Of course, God gave us a lot and we appreciate that and we hope to continue more.”

Salah praised the players for achieving the milestone and urged them to stay focused ahead of the next game.

“I’m proud of the boys… I always tell the boys, just enjoy the moment. We can’t take it for granted,” said the former Liverpool player.

“I don’t know how many times we’ve qualified for the World Cup and never before have we qualified from the group stage and now we’ve qualified for the next round. It’s a moment to enjoy.”

Egypt will now prepare to face Lionel Messi-led Argentina, who toiled to eliminate Cape Verde, in the Round of 16 at Atlanta Stadium on July 7th.