Ahmed Elmohamady: Hull’s history maker putting it all on the line for FA Cup glory

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  • Making history: Ahmed Elmohamady will become the first Egyptian to play in an FA Cup final.

    Growing up, Ahmed Elmohamady would only watch the FA Cup if his beloved Manchester United were playing. He admits he never really grasped the importance of what is the world’s oldest domestic football competition while he was still in Egypt.

    But fast-forward a decade or so and Elmohamady finds himself ready to feature in Saturday’s final of the FA Cup as one of Hull City’s trusted defenders (/wingers) against a heavily-favoured Arsenal. He’ll be the first Egyptian in history to take part in such a match at the iconic Wembley Stadium and the magnitude of the occasion is definitely not lost on him.

    “I was a Manchester United fan so I used to watch all their games and I remember their final against Millwall in 2004,” Elmohamady told Sport360°. “In Egypt, we never really understood the importance of the FA Cup and we always expected the teams to play these matches without our favourite players.

    “But when I moved to England, I could see the Cup from a completely different perspective and could see how much pride everyone here finds in this competition, which is the oldest one in the country’s history.

    “It’s a huge honour for me to be in this final especially as I’m the first Egyptian to ever reach the FA Cup semis and will be the first Egyptian to play the final in Wembley.”

    Hull City have not won a match since they edged Sheffield United in an eight-goal thriller at Wembley four weeks ago. They lost four of their their last five matches of the Premier League season, including a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal, their opponents this weekend.

    It appears the Tigers had one eye on the cup final while wrapping up the league but Elmohamady says they did their best in their first season back in the EPL.

    “Our main goal was to stay in the top flight, and when we won the semi-final against Sheffield, of course we started thinking about the final. But first and foremost we wanted to finish higher in the table,” said the 26-year-old.

    “Thankfully, we’re still in the Premier League. We’ve been waiting for this final since we beat Sheffield (United). We’re playing a huge team like Arsenal and we’re thinking of ways to beat them. They have a lot of pressure on them because they haven’t won any titles in a long time. So we’ll try to take advantage of that fact.

    “We want to make history for ourselves and the club. This is the first final in the history of the club, playing an FA Cup final in Wembley is a huge thing. We’ll be very focused and we’re going into the match with the goal to get the cup. We’ll treat it as a life-or-death match.”

    Arsenal have gone nine years without a trophy and are looking to end that dismal streak against a less-experienced team. Pictures have appeared on Twitter this past week showing signs hung around London indicating preparations for the Gunners’ FA Cup victory parade – they may seem presumptuous but they are still undeniable favourites.

    Elmohamady says the key is for Hull to embrace their underdog status. “I don’t pay attention to these things but all this is huge motivation for us to enter this match with lots of excitement and a reason to play with extra focus so we can win and change people’s opinions about us.

    “Obviously, everyone is saying ‘Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal’ but that’s just extra pressure on them, which we can use to fuel our ambition and pull off the surprise by winning the cup,” he insists.

    After the final, Elmohamady, who started all 38 EPL games for Hull this season (another first by an Egyptian), will not have much time to rest as he heads to Egypt to link up with the national team before flying to Chile for a friendly against the hosts, followed by a trip to London for another against Jamaica.

    He will get to reunite with fellow EPL player Mohamed Salah, who joined Chelsea from FC Basel last January after rumours linking him to Liverpool failed to materialise.

    When asked whether Elmohamady was secretly hoping Chelsea would win the league in support of his friend and countryman, he said: “Of course, as an Egyptian I think it would have been great if Chelsea had won the Premier League with Salah in their ranks.

    “We talk all the time but we haven’t been able to hang out since I’m in Hull and he’s in London and we’ve both been busy but we’re always in touch by phone.”

    Five years his senior and with more experience playing in England, Elmohamady had some words of wisdom for Salah when he first joined the London club. The 21-year-old midfielder made 11 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions this season and Elmohamady believes he’ll get his chance to contribute more in the future.

    “For Salah, the transition from the Swiss league to the EPL is quite a big one. The Premier League is different and I consider it the strongest football league in the world,” states Elmohamady.

    “So I’m sure he’s experiencing some big changes and he’ll need some time to adapt to things here, on the pitch and even more off the pitch. He’s still young and he’s a player of the highest quality, and I believe he’ll have a great chance next season. And the most important thing is that he capitalises on his chance once he gets it. I’m confident in his capabilities and I believe he’ll be a key player in the Chelsea squad next season.”

    The pair will try to help Egypt navigate a brutal group that includes Senegal and Tunisia to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations – a competition the Pharaohs have won a record seven times (including an unprecedented three times in a row) but have failed to qualify in the past two editions.

    "It’s a very difficult group – one that includes Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal is basically the group of death,” he concedes. “But we have a great coach with us, Shawky Gharib. We played one friendly under him and we beat Bosnia who are a strong team, and these are the kind of friendlies we really need.

    "We need to face strong teams so when we play big teams in official matches we can be ready. We will really concentrate on the African qualifiers this time. We missed out on the African Cup the last two times and this time it’s happening in an Arab country, in Morocco, and it would be a disgrace if we don’t qualify.”

    But before thinking about Africa, Elmohamady has a shot at history at Wembley. He is famous for his unusual celebrations – be it his outrageous dance moves or most recently taking the Daily Mail’s camera to snap a selfie with the team.

    Does he have something planned for Saturday? “These are just reactionary celebrations, they’re never planned. But hopefully we’ll get to have another big celebration after the final."

    Elmohamady's season in numbers: 
    38: starts in 38 Premier League games
    3329: minutes played in the Premier League
    02: goals scored
    1751: total passes
    78.4: per cent passing accuracy
    02: assists
    67: tackles
    03: yellow cards
    01: man of the match

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