By Tom Westcott and Ayman Amzein.
Tripoli and Benghazi, 1 February 2014:
In a massive morale boost for the whole country, Libya tonight . . .[restrict]beat Ghana and won the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
The game ended scoreless but, after extra time, a dramatic penalty shootout ended 3-3 before Libya triumphed in sudden death.
Libya scored on their first attempt and then Ghana shot wide of the left post to conclude a nail-biting match that had every Libyan household almost breathless on the edge of their seats.
This evening, for Libya, football really was “the beautiful game”. After the relentless grind of political and social bad news, tonight Libya finally had something to celebrate that brought the nation together.
“Libya’s football team has managed to do what the politicians have spectacularly failed to do – bring the country together,” said one excited Libya supporter after the match.
Huge crowds had gathered in squares in towns and cities across the country to watch the match – the first time Libya has every played in the CHAN finals. In Tripoli, a massive downpour did not stop fans watching the match, even if it meant standing in the rain to catch a glimpse of screens in packed coffee shops. As the match began, in Benghazi, the dusty wind of a Ghibli suddenly broke into cool rain – a favourite weather among Libyans.
After the moment of victory, the celebrations were the biggest since the end of the revolution. Tripoli burst into a seemingly endless cacophony of fireworks, bumper-to-bumper cars blasting their horns along the main streets, crowds in the squares shouting themselves hoarse, ships in the harbour sounding their foghorns, to a backdrop of the inevitable celebratory gunfire.
In Benghazi, the streets teemed with citizens, waving flags, sounding horns and letting off fireworks in celebration, in spite of the rain. It was the same story in Misrata and towns across the country.
A triumphal tour of Libya’s main cities by the team is expected upon its return to Tripoli next week. [/restrict]
