Hossam Abdelmaguid puffed out his cheeks, began his run-up with exaggerated slowness, checked and then, as Mat Ryan fell to his left, put the ball to his right. Harry Souttar and the 18-year-old Lucas Herrington had already missed for Australia and Egypt, having scored all of their penalties, were through. Abdelmaguid ran off to the corner, ripping off his shirt, and was soon joined by an ecstatic posse of Egyptian players. Mohamed Salah, who had converted a Panenka, was in tears, and the manager, Hossam Hassan, was in tears.
Egypt had won a World Cup knockout tie for the first time. The last time they got that far was 1934, when there were only 16 teams, and they lost 4-2 to Hungary. They will now face either Argentina or Cape Verde in the last 16.
“Egypt beat Australia on penalties to reach World Cup last 16 for first time, with Mohamed Salah scoring a Panenka.”
“My heart and soul are with the Palestinian people,” said Hassan. “I thank them and dedicate this victory to them. We succeeded in making Arab people proud. I wanted to win for the sake of the good people. God is honouring us because of the good people who are here.”
The match itself had been scrappy and largely formless. Egypt took a 13th-minute lead through Emam Ashour, who has had a remarkable year — the Al Ahly forward, playing in a central role behind the front two, scored his first international goal in the draw against Belgium, and then did the same here. The Australians levelled after 55 minutes when Mohamed Hany put through his own net, and that would be it for more than an hour as penalties were left to decide the contest.
Australia made the bold move of changing their goalkeeper with 120 minutes on the clock, bringing on ex-Arsenal shot-stopper Mat Ryan to replace Patrick Beach, who had been excellent during the game. The move did not pay off — Ryan did not get near any of Egypt’s four penalties. Souttar blazed over with the first penalty of the shootout, and Herrington hit the bar, meaning Egypt only needed four of their five penalties as they scored with every effort.
“It’s history,” said Salah after the victory. “I told the boys before the game that this is the biggest stage you can play on. Enjoy it and don’t let the pressure get to you. I’m glad that we managed to in the game, bad luck for them. I’m happy that we wrote history today.” The former Liverpool man, who has still not confirmed his next club, admitted that his bold Panenka was born out of a desire to inspire his team-mates. “If somebody was going to do it, it would be me!” he said. “I am more experienced than others and I wanted to give them confidence. I decided last minute, I had to do it.”
Neither nation had ever made it to the last eight of the World Cup. Egypt, who had not won a World Cup match since their first appearance in 1934 before this tournament, are now through to the last 16 and likely to face Argentina, who are hot favourites to see off Cape Verde.