Egypt’s goalkeeper, El Hadary eyes fifth cup title

When Essam El Hadary, the Egyptian goalkeeper who will start in today’s Africa Cup of Nations final, made his international debut, his current teammate, Ramadan Sobhi had not yet been born.

First capped in 1996, El Hadary was the man whose saves in a penalty shootout against Burkina Faso on Wednesday took the Pharaohs through to a date with Cameroon in Libreville.

The combined age of the two Burkinabe players he thwarted – Bertrand Traore and goalkeeper Herve Koffi are 21 and 20 respectively – still does not match that of El Hadary, who is unique and still going strong at 44.

“All I have done all my life is train. I can’t do anything without football,” he said after playing in Egypt’s 0-0 draw with Mali that began their campaign in Gabon.

He had turned 44 just two days before that game. His teammates made him a cake, although he insists that he hates celebrating birthdays and preferred to mark the occasion by becoming the oldest ever player at the Cup of Nations.

Named on the bench at kick-off, he soon came on for the injured Ahmed El Shennawy to break the previous record set by fellow Egyptian Hossam Hassan, who was barely 39 and a half when he played at the 2006 tournament.

“I am the happiest person in Egypt at playing at the Cup of Nations again,” he said later. “I had a feeling before the match I would play. I dreamt of breaking the record.”

He has remained the last line of defence in Hector Cuper’s solid and hard-working side and had gone 653 minutes without conceding in the Cup of Nations until Aristide Bance’s strike for Burkina Faso in the semifinal.