For Karim Ramadan, watching from a buzzing Cairo cafe before sunrise, the moment felt almost unreal as Egypt progressed from the group stage of a World Cup for the first time in their history on Saturday.
“It was a dream,” Ramadan told AFP from a cafe in Cairo’s popular Shubra neighbourhood, where he arrived at 6:00 am to secure a seat among hundreds of other fans.
“It’s an incredible feeling we’ve dreamt of for years,” he told AFP.