Algeria v Egypt: Now that's what you call a grudge match! Why the African World Cup play-off match will be the must-watch event this week (from as far away as you can get...)
Egypt may have won the battle but they haven’t won the war. Algeria midfielder Khaled Lemmouchia was not referring to military conflict when he spoke on Monday, but to a monumental World Cup play-off against Egypt in neutral Sudan on Wednesday.
Rarely has such rhetoric been more appropriate for a football match.
It is exactly 20 years since one of the most infamous chapters in the history of African football.
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Having lost out to Egypt for a place at the 1990 World Cup in Cairo on November 17, 1989, Algerian players and officials mobbed the referee and then began hurling plant pots into the crowd.
Later, at a post-match reception, the Egyptian team doctor had his eye gouged out by an Algerian player wielding a broken bottle.
Star striker Lakhdar Balloumi was convicted and sentenced to prison in his absence, although some say the culprit was actually a reserve goalkeeper.
In April, Interpol agreed to drop Balloumi’s arrest warrant as attempts were made at the highest level to restore good relations ahead of two World Cup qualifiers between the teams in Group C, but events have only conspired to stoke up the rivalry even further.
Emad Moteab’s goal deep into injury-time in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Algeria in Cairo left Egypt with an identical record to their old rivals, forcing a knock-out tie between the two.
Either the Pharaohs or the Desert Foxes will progress to make their third World Cup appearance next summer and become the only Arab representatives in South Africa.
Typically, they could not agree on a neutral venue for the play-off, so each put a name into a hat and Egypt’s preferred choice of Sudan was drawn out.
It means they will meet at the 40,000-seater Al Merreikh Stadium in Omdurman in another potentially explosive clash.
And there will be several players from England who will be experiencing the hostility. Egypt’s squad includes Ahmed Fahi (former Sheffield Utd), Mohamed Shawky (Boro) and Amr Zaki (former Wigan). Algeria’s squad has Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth), Madjid Bougherra (Rangers), Hameur Bouazza (Blackpool), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth)
and Kamel Ghilas (Hull City).
But Lemmouchia believes neither game should have taken place after he and three Algeria team-mates were injured when their team bus was ambushed by a stone-throwing mob in Cairo on Friday.
He accused FIFA of conspiring to put Egypt through to next summer’s finals in South Africa, saying: ‘We should never have been put in this position of having to play Egypt again to reach the World Cup. The first game should never have been played. Before the game some of our players were sick and shaken. Others felt paralysed by everything that had happened. But FIFA still made us play. If they would prefer Egypt to go to the World Cup, then they are making that clear.
‘What do you think would have happened if the Egyptians had been the ones attacked in Algeria? They would have turned back, gone home and asked to be awarded the win by default — and they would have got it.’
Sections of the Egyptian media have even accused the Algerians of feigning the attack and smashing the windows of their own bus.
After the game, while President Hosni Mubarak was sending a congratulatory telegram to the Egyptian team amid joyous scenes in Cairo, at least 20 Algerians were injured in clashes. In Algeria, where 10,000 Egyptians live, foreign workers were attacked. The offices of Egypt Air and Egyptian phone company Djeezy were ransacked and armed forces were sent in to protect the Egyptian embassy.
A huge security operation will be mounted in Sudan to try to ensure trouble does not escalate between two nations with a history of cultural and political differences.
Sections of the Egyptian media have even accused the Algerians of feigning the attack and smashing the windows of their own bus.
After the game, while President Hosni Mubarak was sending a congratulatory telegram to the Egyptian team amid joyous scenes in Cairo, at least 20 Algerians were injured in clashes. In Algeria, where 10,000 Egyptians live, foreign workers were attacked. The offices of Egypt Air and Egyptian phone company Djeezy were ransacked and armed forces were sent in to protect the Egyptian embassy.
A huge security operation will be mounted in Sudan to try to ensure trouble does not escalate between two nations with a history of cultural and political differences.
