CAIRO (AP) — The small coffee house in Cairo was turned Tuesday into a tiny stadium.Several hundred people, mostly men and boys as young as 7, gathered around wall-mounted screens ahead of the kickoff whistle.The scene played out across the soccer-mad nation as Egypt faced the defending World Cup champion in the round-of-16 fixture in Atlanta.It was a historic day for millions of Egyptians even after their national team’s adventure reached its end with Tuesday’s 2-3 loss to Argentina.“It’s a brutal scenario,” Ahmed Saadany, a teacher, reflected after the game. “The journey shouldn’t have ended that way.”With their own star Mohamed Salah, Egypt reached the round of 16 by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 on Friday.The Pharaohs advanced to the knockout stages — their first ever — after securing the second place in the Group G, behind Belgium.
Preparations for the game started well ahead of the kickoff at 7 p.m. local time. Rows of plastic and wooden chairs faced wall-mounted TV screens as fans flocked into hundreds of thousands of coffee houses and fan-zones across Egypt.
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