Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

As the captain of the team, my job involves more than just playing. I have to talk to the players and motivate them.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

My father who passed away told me that his dream is to watch me playing at a World Cup and I want to make my dad proud.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

The player who is almost at the same age as my daughter... I treat all my team-mates as brothers and I treat him just like a team-mate. I embrace them all and I am always around them giving advice because this is part of my job as a team captain and friend. I don't make them feel the gap in the age because I believe this should be normal.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

Sometimes the media highlight a record for me that I did not know anything about but setting a record at a prestigious tournament like the World Cup makes me happy.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I'm very happy to play at the World Cup, and that is a message to all footballers and others around the world, that you should believe in your dreams and fight to make them come true.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I train hard every day, I don't know what the word 'impossible' means.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

Rooney is one of the best forwards in the world, if not the best.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

It won't matter who starts and who plays, the most important thing is the Egyptian national team and we will do our best.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I'm proud of my long career but playing in the World Cup is something special for any player. There is no limit to my ambition and I have always been determined to achieve that objective.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I appreciate Merriekh and their chairman Gamal El-Wali. I respect their supporters, players and technical staff.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

We all have a loyalty to our country, we want to serve our country. It's in our nature.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

Obviously, any player wants to set a record.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

We know football is a difficult game. Sometimes you win and lose.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

We all do our best. We hope we can win.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I did almost everything in my footballing career.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I won 37 trophies and I enjoyed some remarkable moments, such as our win over Italy at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

This is a message to all footballers and others around the world that you should believe in your dreams and fight to make them come true.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

Setting targets is very important in my life; I always have targets to fulfil.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

I'm used to realising all my dreams and targets through my determination and ambition.

Essam El Hadary
Essam El Hadary

Beating a record for the oldest World Cup player means that it's an achievement for my country before it's an achievement for me.