DALLAS STADIUM, TEXAS — Egypt’s iconic coach Hossam Hassan was greeted by adoring media in the post match press conference after his nation’s first ever World Cup knockout win.
In scenes unlike anything this reporter has witnessed, he was given a standing ovation, hugged by the Egyptian press pack and then allowed them all to join him on stage for photos after a 40 minute reflection.
Hassan did not hold back the emotion in his reflection, revealed he was bluffing when he said yesterday that Mohamed Salah might not start and said he felt his side dominated for 90 per cent of the contest against Australia.
“We were leading that match, 90% we were controlling the match,” he assessed.
“The long balls we saw, we tried to defend against them. I do respect the Australian squad and told them they did great and hard luck for the loss.
“They offered a great match and were great opponents, all due respect to them, at the same time I was very happy at the beginning, with substitutions, and the first goal and extra time, there was a lot of pressure applied from us…
“We were trying to keep them in the last third of their part of the pitch. Of course we missed a lot of chances and before the 1-0 we could’ve seen the goal of Omar Marmoush but when he missed the kick I thought something was going wrong. We re-thought the match plan, we did a few changes ….all the players were ready and this is what I was saying: for 2.5 years – all the players are well aware in any second anything can change.”
He continued his analysis by explaining how he combated Australia’s physical advantages – although was disappointed that they conceded from a set piece.
“Well it is due diligence – we studied them very well; aerial balls, physical heights.
“It really upset me when a goal was scored from a set piece; at the very same time of course, understand the players fully and fully understood the situation.
“We managed throughout the match to handle those physical heights everyone was afraid of and talking about as big, big danger – we were really handling them very well, doing well, defensive structure, compact shape on the pitch.
“We managed to maintain control, imposed our rhythm, ball passes, possession; we made good wins on the pitch.”
As for Salah, when he was asked if “played everyone” in a pre-match press conference, he admitted that he always knew he was going to start.
“Before the match we all know Mo Salah is a very important player (if he is) in the starting line up or not, it affects the opponent on the mental side and us as well,” he said.
“As a coach, you need to maybe hold the cards close to your chest and not disclose everything.
“But of course we planned for Salah to be in the starting XI and that he would play and this is something every coach does – you have to be a sports politician somehow.
“But I am glad he managed to play all the minutes today – I thank him and all the others from the bottom of my heart for their performance.”
Once greeted by the adoring media – “one million congratulations,” they opened with – Hassan explained just how much these means.
He and his assistants wept with joy afterwards, a release after the “huge pressure”.
“During the penalty shootout I was just praying ‘make the Egyptian people happy, do not disappoint our people!’”
He continued: “I was in a dream like situation – I did not know if this was real or not … the feeling I had was extremely proud to achieve this for my people.”