(from 31 Jan) A National Victory?

When Egypt won a 1-0 victory over Ghana in the African Nations Cup on 31 January the streets filled with people (in their cars that is) cheering, honking the horns, waving flags and shooting fireworks:


(Cars blocking the streets of Salmiya around 10pm after the victory)

But here's the funny thing: on an earlier evening walk we had seen many young people and families gathering around outdoor televisions put up close to the marina and other public places. We figured that Kuwait was playing against some other nation. When we went to buy shawarmas, a guy waiting in line - and clearly more Egyptian-looking than Ghanian-looking - asked us what team we were supporting in the Egypt - Ghana match and we never connected the two! It was not until well into the evening and a considerable time after the win that we realized that all the people filling up the streets to celebrate were indeed Egyptians living in Kuwait and the flags flying from the cars were Egyptian flags. Seriously, the celebrations were such that I had not imagined that they were celebrating anything less than a national (Kuwaiti) victory.

Kuwait has a population of 2.6 million people but out of those, only 45% are Kuwaiti nationals. The remaining 55% are divided into 'other Arab' 35%, 'South Asian' 9%, 'Iranian' 4% and 'Other' 7%. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku.html) Out of the 'other Arab' category it seems that the predominant group is indeed Egyptian - I don't know the exact figures but I have certainly met many more Egyptian than Kuwaiti people here.

If it wasn't for the thunderstorm brewing, the celebrations would have gone on the entire night (mental note to self: get an apartment with noise isolating windows!).