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Jewels in the Nile – Ghana 2008

Emdad Rahman

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Not so much a brilliant pitch
For Shehata’s latino passing style
To pit wits with the indomitable lions came
The boys from the land of the Nile

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 They lined up with much fanfare in Accra
Largely what is Marcel Desailly’s roots
But looming large was the lethal poacher Eto
The assassin with the deadly shooting boots

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Spirited pedigree they may have held
Biyick, Milla, Mboma’s finesse
An insight was gained into an achilles heel
With Royal Bikey’s moment of madness

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Though reigning champs the Pharoahs were unfancied
Would they again be first past the post?
Solid start against Zambia’s Chipolopolo’s
Then Sudan, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 It was left for Al Ahly’s shining son
Aboutrika with the killer touch
So applying twice the final winning stroke
Is there a better African schemer as such?

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Recalling the last time he’d hit home the winning pen
Level to the ground, he arched his lumbar
As the squad from Misr united all for one
Praise be to God, “Allahu Akbar!”

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Arab, Athenian or Andalusi
Doesn’t matter if you’re Appalachian
All brothers united, be they Egyptian, Muslim
or Amr Zaki, the Coptic Christian

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 The adventure had been more than just color and vigour
The play was a joy to behold
A superb spectacle blemished by small crowds
Empty stadia left the atmosphere cold

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 For a record time champions they became
A great nation stood tall and proud
The cup returned to the land of the Pharoah
Let’s hear it out nice and loud

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Al Hadari, Gomaa, Hani Said
Mohammed, Abd Rabou, Fathi, Zaki
Moteab, Hassan, Aboutrika
Moawad, Zidan, Said, Shawky

© © Emdad Rahman

Notes

Well done Egypt – African Cup of Nations Champions – 2008.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/jewels-in-the-nile-ghana-2008/