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Waleed Aly<\/a>Columnist, author and academic<\/p>\nJuly 4, 2026 \u2014 4:30pm<\/p>\n
July 4, 2026 \u2014 4:30pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n \u201cEither way you win,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever happens there will be consolation,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n But when Hossam Abdelmaguid drove home Egypt\u2019s fourth penalty to knock the Socceroos out of the World Cup on Saturday morning, that\u2019s not remotely how it felt.<\/p>\n To be honest, I\u2019m not sure the feeling quite has a word. Gutted is close, but too absolute. Exhausted is right, but only partial. All that came out of my mouth was, \u201cI feel ill\u201d.<\/p>\n Not really the illness of defeat, though. More the illness you get after a winding road trip down a mountain. Released from the journey, you stagger out of the vehicle, knowing you had to reach this destination but wondering, \u201cdid it really have to be like this?\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article All week people asked, \u201care you going to support Egypt?\u201d Are you kidding? In this monoculture? I knew I would be supporting Australia. I wanted at least another week of shared World Cup fever. But the truth is my brain just wouldn\u2019t let me compute the situation.<\/p>\n Sport is one of those things that comes from the gut. You see the shirt, it triggers a response that\u2019s entirely pre-rational. You associate it with a certain feeling a certain instinct. It\u2019s what happens as soon as I see Richmond run out onto the MCG or Liverpool take to Anfield.<\/p>\n Oh, and here\u2019s the other complication: one of Liverpool\u2019s greatest-ever players is Mo Salah, a man who has given me impossible amounts of joy \u2013 today, Egypt\u2019s hero, wearing a shirt I\u2019ve always supported, now Australia\u2019s main threat. Never given a good run at a World Cup, and this is his last chance.<\/p>\n If Australia must lose, could it at least be from some Salah magic? Ageing and playing on one leg, he is mostly anonymous. As the game gets desperate he turns it on briefly, slicing Australia open, jinking past defenders like they\u2019re schoolchildren, clearly the best footballer there. But we would be denied even this.<\/p>\n Related Article Penalties. Like deciding a philosophical debate with a burping contest, goes the saying. The worst way to lose, the most hollow way to win. Quite possibly the worst of all available worlds.<\/p>\n As the Egyptians career away in celebration, having won their first World Cup knockout game, I can\u2019t resent it, but I can\u2019t smile either.<\/p>\n And that kind of summed up the morning. When Emam Ashour scores Egypt\u2019s first, I\u2019m disappointed, but not livid. When Australia equalises I\u2019m relieved but not thrilled. At various stages, in fleeting moments, I find myself supporting whoever happens to have the ball, then snapping out of it. There was a moment, just before the end of regulation time, where Salah put a delicious cross into the box, met by Ramy Rabia\u2019s head, and Patrick Beach pulled off a wonderful save.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen Salah do that a thousand times wearing a red shirt I support. I\u2019ve watched him do it at Anfield. It\u2019s the most extraordinary excitement every time. I can\u2019t help but want that to go in. Then Beach saves Australia, and I\u2019m jolted into feeling rescued. An instant later, I\u2019m sick from all the jolting.<\/p>\n The result for me was that no emotion could just be itself. This is probably the greatest day in Egyptian football history, and it comes at Australia\u2019s expense. Every silver lining had a dark cloud. And that\u2019s not how sport works. Not for me, anyway. Last week, I saw Richmond lose to Collingwood. I saw the Melbourne Storm get flogged by Manly. I hate Collingwood. I can\u2019t abide Manly. This is as it should be. Sport is zero-sum. It\u2019s the pantomime to which we commit. It works best when you feel nothing for your opponent. It\u2019s why the Ashes will always be great.<\/p>\n I admire and envy the \u201cyou can\u2019t lose\u201d crowd. They\u2019re better people than I am, grateful for what comes, accepting of what doesn\u2019t. The truth is that had these teams not met each other, there\u2019s a good chance both would have been eliminated. I watch Salah walk around the stadium in tears, applauding the fans. I see what this moment means to him and his country, its people whom I love. My cousins in Egypt are kind and gentle about it on the family WhatsApp group. \u201cHard luck for Australia,\u201d says Karim. Perhaps by the time Egypt next take the field I\u2019ll see only them, not the yellow shirt they vanquished. God, it would be nice for it to be uncomplicated and raw.<\/p>\n Car sickness fades, then the destination beckons. But what a ride.<\/p>\n Did it have to be this way? Well, not really. Not if Egypt had topped their group instead of Belgium. That didn\u2019t happen because Belgium tonked the Kiwis in their last group game. And perhaps there I can find my most quintessentially Australian solace.<\/p>\n To the extent I didn\u2019t love this experience, there\u2019s at least one thing on which we can all agree: it\u2019s mostly New Zealand\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up for our Opinion newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Waleed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/89dbbead5843b5711ad3679b978ac1aa0be4e24b.jpeg\")
Waleed Aly felt like former Socceroo Craig Foster and other fans watching at Federation Square.Luis Enrique Ascui.<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783151892_916_81574b03e8571b9e64f68cb71721ad00a7f64a3c.jpeg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b591b332c82fd47ac9190bfe7d81b5759b7c31cf.jpeg\")
Patrick Beach\u2019s save jolted Waleed Aly back. AP Photo\/Jessica Tobias<\/p>\n
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