International media celebrates Egypt’s historic qualification for the 2026 World Cup

International media celebrated the Egyptian team’s achievement, after it qualified for the first time in its history to the round of 16 of the World Cup, after winning on penalties over the Australian team with a score of (4-2), whose original and extra time ended in a positive draw (1-1).

The Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” highlighted the role played by the captain of the Egyptian team, Mohamed Salah, in an article titled: “Salah and Egypt make history and qualify for the World Cup final,” noting that the Egyptian team wrote a new page in its history at the World Cup by achieving its first victory in the knockout rounds, in its fourth participation in the World Cup tournaments after the 1934, 1990 and 2018 editions.

The Spanish newspaper “Marca” chose a striking headline on its social media platforms that said: “No one buries the Pharaohs,” in reference to the Egyptian team’s commitment to its chances of achieving the dream, in a match in which the Pharaohs took the lead in the 13th minute through the striker’s header against Ashour, before the Australian team equalized at the start of the second half with an own goal from the Egyptian team player Mohamed Hani.

The British newspaper “Mirror” focused on the tactical aspect of the match, and published an article entitled: “Egypt defeats Australia on penalty kicks after the failure of the goalkeeper’s adventure,” noting that the Australian technical staff, led by Tony Popovic, bet on bringing in veteran goalkeeper Matthew Ryan before the end of extra time instead of young goalkeeper Patrick Beach, in an attempt to benefit from his experience in penalty kicks, but the Egyptian team won it with a score of (4-2) after successfully scoring all of its kicks.

The British newspaper The Guardian focused on the historical value of the result, and headlined: “Egypt achieves its first ever victory in the World Cup knockout rounds at the expense of Australia,” describing it as a turning point in the history of Egyptian football.

While the headline of the Canadian newspaper “The Globe and Mail” highlighted the success of the Egyptian national team players in executing penalty kicks with great confidence, under the title: “Perfect in penalty kicks… Egypt overthrows Australia and achieves its first victory in the World Cup knockout rounds.”