we have celebrated on this blog many many times and we also went through disappointments and defeats; the joy of victory and the agony of defeat are, however, temporary feelings that will be forgotten within a period from the event, what remains is the memories and the true feelings that we got to discover in its ugliest forms, the scar is so deep that time won’t erase it; however, this is a football blog so I will keep it to football.

Why we lost?

Before the game, I was worried and nervous fearing any improvisation from Shehata like what happened in the first game against Zambia and I hoped that he would play with the most reasonable formation that no one would disagree with; I also hoped that we get rid of the momentum and confidence of Saturday’s game and play in Khartoum as underdogs.

Unfortunately, none of this happened; Shehata failed to deal with the game and opted for a bizarre formation starting with both Ahmed Hassan and Ahmed Fathi in Midfield, one is old and the other isn’t a defensive midfielder, while leaving Hosni Abd Raboh, Homos and Shawky on the bench.

This fatal mistake caused us, again, to play long balls while the trio of Abu Treika, Meteb and Zaki stayed in their isolated island in the absence of any support.

Games like these are known for the battle of midfield; you control the midfield, you control the game; Shehata didn’t see this and when he tried to change things, it was late because the Algerians were already piling up in defense and almost never attacked except for Abdel Qader Ghezzal header in the second half.

The flanks, on the other hand, were handicapped as Moawad had more than two players closing on him and his tactical partner Abu Treika was completely out of form and didn’t provide the support needed.

On the right side, Mohammadi tried but he lacked the final touch of delivering a good cross and seemed hesitant between Defense and attack; however, during the second half, while we were attacking with more than 6 players, Mohammadi needed to be substituted with Barakat to increase our attacking flare.

We should have played with one striker and one play maker and put more players in midfield and Abu Treika needed to be substituted as he was proven to be out of form even from Cairo’s game.

Another main reason for the loss is our inability to deal with free kicks and high balls and the opponent’s excellence in using them; this problem constitutes a phenomenon even in the local matches of the Egyptian league that we need to tackle it from the roots with youngsters at football academies.

Also, we failed to use our own free kicks; although we had more than 10 corner kicks, we used none even to threat the goal keeper as all the balls went wide.

With that said, I have to say that luck wasn’t on our side; what are the chances that Meteb would miss this chance or that Abu Treika couldn’t score from a one-on-one situation.

We lost A game of football but that won’t make us forget what this group of players has previously achieved.

Thank You

The Egyptian Football Association has its share of the blame because of the poor organization of the tickets’ sales process for Saturday’s game and the game in Sudan which has resulted in real football fans staying at home while we sent Artists and Media people in the stands of El Merreikh stadium.

Not to mention their weak reactions to all what has accompanied the game and the game in Algeria; speaking of that, what happened off the field in both games is another story.

Before June’s game, I was one of the biggest fans of this game being played in a friendly atmosphere where sportsmanship prevails and like me, most Egyptians expected and wanted so; however, as the game approached I myself was bombarded with bizarre comments from Algerian fans here and elsewhere, I found politics and religion mixed with sports, I found harsh insults but I thought this was normal football fever that happens in any football match.

The game came and the first shock came with the strong jeering and booing of the national anthem then videos appeared of fans celebrating beside the Hotel not to let the players sleep and then news came of people from the technical staff and some players poisoned because of a bad meal; the game was played and we lost and no one complained.

Tides turned throughout the rest of the games until Cairo game in which Egypt had to win by a two goal difference to stay in the competition or three to qualify directly.

Algerian and Egyptian media started to charge the fans and as the game approached Algerian media raised their tone while Algerian fans doubled their dose of insults; thee Algerian FA, on the other hand, did nothing to stop this but started to make troubles over the tickets and made an issue of everything.

The Algerian team came with bad intentions, taking with them their chefs, water, food and even blankets and security personnel; they seemed dubious from the moment they arrived at the airport and then came the stone throwing incident.

While foreign and Arab media caught the story and exaggerated a lot and didn’t even wait for anything official; police investigations proved that one stone was thrown, the person who did this isn’t confirmed to be Egyptian, and that the Algerian players broke the windows glasses from inside which is backed up by the glass on the ground at the hotel, which means it was broken from inside , and even the videos of the Algerians showed stones thrown from one side; however, as the bus arrived, windows were broken from both sides; not to mention the drivers’ witness that the players used emergency tools inside the bus o break the glass.

Watch for yourselves; especially at the beginning

As for the injuries I will let this picture speak for itself.

They threatened to boycott the game and said the game should be moved but FIFA officials present at the scene refused all these requests because they saw nothing; common sense says that if they had strong evidence that this was true, they would have cancelled the game.

Anyway, after this incident the game was played and we won 2-0; however, the defeat was too much for the Algerian media to take so they decided to make up stories of Algerian fans dying and trapped in Cairo after the game, allegations that even the Algerian ambassador denied, while they were the ones who started provoking the Egyptian fans and insulted them in and outside the stadium and even went in riots inside the airport on their way home; Algerian people and due to these false news was charged to the maximum.

We had to play in Sudan, our choice; right after Cairo’s game ended, Algerians started to descend on Khartoum paying people money to hang the Algerian flag and even giving them candy. They also spread a rumor that Egyptians supported Chad against Sudan in a game that was played in Cairo although no one even knew that there was such a game.

Algerians used the stone incident again to stress they played in unfriendly atmosphere and that they would perform if they play in a “neutral” atmosphere and unfortunately, they convinced public opinion with these allegations; even after Sudanese president held a conciliation session with both delegations, Samir Zaher went to shake hands with Algerian officials but they refused and walked away!!!

From its side, the Algerian government announced it would carry 10 thousand “fans” to Khartoum for free but what happened was that they sent thugs who since they arrived started buying knives and all kinds of light weapons, according to the Sudanese themselves, and started intimidating whoever carries the Egyptian flags even the Sudanese people and the disaster is that they were carried on the planes of the Algerian air force!!!!!

The Algerian thugs attacked the Egyptian team’s bus but Egyptian officials didn’t want to exaggerate the incident and on the day of the game, Khartoum seemed to be occupied by the Algerian thugs who broke into the stadium with their weapons and some of them got into the pitch before Sudanese authorities arrest them.

We lost because simply we didn’t deserve to win the game; however, Egyptian fans in the stadium clapped for the team and headed for the airport as planned, the losing team and its fans was agreed to leave and the winning team and its fans after them with 3 hours,, however, Algerian thugs had another plan; they broke out of the stadium just as they broke in and started chasing buses carrying Egyptian fans and smashed them with rocks and closed the airport road to the extent that some fans had to hide in Sudanese houses.

The thugs continued to practice their terror while the Sudanese authorities did their best to control the situation but unfortunately it wasn’t enough; even those who reached the airport found it closed and couldn’t do anything while many of them were injured.

High authorities in Egypt had to intervene to allow Egyptian fans take their planes back home and guess what, Algerian thugs has already invaded the runway and started chasing Egyptian fans!!!!

Most people returned home; official reports say there are 20 injuries but fortunately no deaths, which would have been the case if we won.

Out of all this, we learnt two important lessons:

1-we need to learn dirty tricks and know how to be mean against our opponent.

Unfortunately, we focused on football and left them execute their well planned scenario that turned us into be bad guys in front of the world’s public opinions while we were the victims.

We need to learn how to counter these tactics off the field and apply it ourselves with opponents like those, we need to learn how to play with press statements and we need to learn how to use scare tactics, because apparently honesty doesn’t win games these days.

We need to learn how to use our international posts like what Rowrawa, Head of Algerian FA and member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, did changing the observers of Cairo’s game and influencing FIFA officials as well as CAF officials to appoint a referee who is going after 10 days to officiate the final of confederation cup in Algeria!!!!!

On the pitch, we need to learn how to intimidate the opponent, provoke them, get them out of their concentration, learn how to fool the referee by hitting the opponent without him noticing it, learn how to get out the worst of the opponent and appear as victims and most importantly learn how to waste time.

2- We need to have a strong international public relations office at the EFA.

They used their relations with foreign media; especially French one to create a propaganda over the stone incident out of nothing and succeeded in convincing them that they are the victims not us as people saw Algerian actions as a reaction to what happened in Cairo.

Our media is the strongest in the Middle East; but unfortunately, its effect is limited within Arabic speaking audience; we need to establish long term relationships with foreign media and always keep in touch with them by sending brochures, organizing events and creating good publicity so that when we need them, we find them just like what happened this time.

We lost the game, Algeria qualified, no way the game will be replayed or a punishment of significance will take place but we have learnt our lesson.

Message to Algerians

Before accusing us of hostility, go ask how UAE’s team was received and treated like kings in Egypt along with the 24 participating teams in the U-20 world cup and go ask the 16 teams participating at the African cup of nations in 2006 how was their stay in Egypt and go ask hundreds of teams who came to egypt to compete in international sporting events and sometimes beating the home team but nothing happened to them and then go ask yourself why were Egyptians had an aggressive attitude toward you? Ask yourself why us?

On the other hand, go ask your media how could thy publish news of people dying in cairo without having a single evidence resulting in a big scare in the relationship between two people, that Egyptians in Algeria received threats that If they didn’t return home, they will be killed!!!!

I know you will say Egyptian channels started it, yes Egyptian private channels contributed to the tragedy but you were the ones who took it to new levels with your false news about deaths in Cairo.

You have to admit you have a real problem with hooligans and ask yourself why didn’t Algeria host any major football competition since 1990 and why were 120 games in your local league played behind closed doors and why is violence part of your football?

I am not saying that we are saints, we have problems but they can’t be compared to yours!!!

What’s next for Egypt WCB?

I thank everyone who came to comment here, I really appreciate that you took time to read my posts. I a m going to take a little break to catch p with the loads of work I have to do as a senior year student but I will return as soon as I can or if something really big happens….. I hope that you don’t break ties with Egypt WCB and keep visiting for African cup’s coverage; the draw is today by the way.

Thank you all again.

Now I will leave you with some videos of our opponent:

Attacks on Egyptian fans after the game!!!

Egyptian team bus attacked

No comment

Algerian fans at the airport

Algerian fans after Cairo game

Egypt Air office in Algeria

Orascom telecom headquarters in Algeria

Translation: people and army with you Saadane for Jihad in Sudan!!!!!!!

NO COMMENT

NO COMMENT

Algerian fans in Sudan!!!!!!

Looks like he was right!!!!!!

NO COMMENT AT ALL!!!!!!

Tomorrow is another day but yesterday will never be forgotten.

7asby Allah wa ne3ma al wakil………..rabena mabyrdash bel zolm abadan

So here we are now, down at our Sudanese brothers’ place enjoying their hospitality and support along side 2 million Egyptians working and living there as we enter our final game against Algeria to determine the owner of the most hard fought qualification ticket in all continents.

We met in Algeria and lost 3-1 and we met in Cairo and won 2-0 to force a tie-breaker to be played in our country of choice, Sudan, rather than Tunisia, Algerian choice.

I needn’t to say that the game means everything for both teams and that they will give all their best to secure this ticket…….etc; the same things I said in the preview of Cairo’s game.

So what is different now?…..Egypt with high spirits would stand in front of a frustrated Algerian team seeking to regroup itself and fight for their chance with both teams having equal chances for the first time since the beginning of the last stage of qualifications.

Equal chances mean that the immense pressure we had last game is now off our shoulder; in fact, it was somehow transferred to the opponent who played on 3 chances in Cairo and now have to win and only win to qualify not to disappoint their fans who have been celebrating for the past 3 months!!!

The game, possibly the most important during the last world cup qualification day, will be watched by millions around the world and both sets of fans started already to flood Khartoum; I myself would have gone if I hadn’t this exam on the match day.

This is the most important sporting event that Sudan hosts in 40 years, so given the importance of the event, the minister of youth and sports headed the organizing committee himself and Sudanese ministry of interior recruited 15 thousand policeman to secure the game along with security personnel coming from Egypt and Algeria after the atmosphere became highly tensioned because of irresponsible media coverage that I don’t want to discuss.

My only hope is that the game ends as peacefully as it would start; although a peaceful start is doubtful. Let’s just hope Sudan is up to it.

Watch Sudanese fans’ support to Egypt

Algeria

They are going to miss their keeper Geouaoui and Khaled Lammouchia due to suspension for receiving their second yellow card; the good news is that the other goal keeper has only 2 international games in his record and both were friendlies; on the other hand, Yebda is expected to replace Lammouchia.

The Algerians played a great defensive match in Cairo with the help of our lack of creativity in our attacks; however, they can’t afford to play like this again as they have to score or else they will be scored at.

A defensive scenario can’t be excluded, however, as they would depend on counter attacks through Meghni and Saifi; I forgot to mention that both Saifi and Haliche are doubtful to play this game because of injury.

The stress now is on Algeria, as I said before, as they lost an almost secured ticket after failing to win with high scores against Zambia and Rwanda and failing to lose 1-0 in Cairo.

Egypt

Although celebrations continued for the next day, Shehata took his players to their camp, isolated them as usual and started preparing for the game; unlike the fans, the players are isolated and concentrated on the game.

With this load of having to score 2 goals at least off our shoulders, now we can play our game with the tactics of our choice; defend attack, play in midfield, on the flanks….etc. Shehata is now free to play like he did against Brazil, Italy, , Cameroon and Cote D’ivoire.

In other words, now we can return to our traditional tactic of starting with 3 midfielders with one playmaker and a striker imposing our play in midfield and building attacks slowly without pressure.

But this doesn’t mean that we can underestimate the opponent; both teams have equal chances with only a slight psychological advantage for Egypt.

With the return of Wael Gomaa and Hosni Abd Raboh we will restore the missing link between defense and attack which led us to play long balls as no one from our midfielders was able to take the ball from defense and send it to strikers; especially with the pile up of Algerian defense. Also, we now have a good shooter from distance which we will need in front of this amateur keeper.

Probable formation

…………………..El Hadary………………..
Fathi……Gomaa…..H Said……El Saqqa……..Moawad
…….Ahmed Hassan……Homos……..Hosni Abd Raboh
…………………..Abu Treika (Zidan)………….
…………………..(Meteb) Zaki………………….

The match

Also not a match for the faint hearted; although fans pressure won’t be as high as in Cairo stadium but the atmosphere of the game is electric, football speaking, and mistakes aren’t allowed.

Either one of the teams score early or both adopt a defensive game plan and the match would end 1-0 scored from a free kick or shot from range.

Prediction: totally unpredictable…. I say 60:40 to Egypt

Where to watch: atdhe.net and other links that Mostafa would share with us.

I apologize for the brief preview, but you know the story; I promise I will make it up with a proper game review in case we won isa

SHEDY 7ELEK YA BALAD

YA RAB

Honestly, I was watching this game on my nerves and didn’t have the chance to analyze the tactics and game plans of each team; however, these are some general thoughts I had about the game.

-The perfect start of the game couldn’t help us score goals as players somehow relaxed and with time passing, the Algerian started to restore confidence and form some counter attacks that were saved by El Hadary.

-We had a clear problem in Midfield, Hosni Abd Raboh was missed; we lacked the connector between defense and attack that’s why we saw a lot of long balls and crosses which isn’t our style.

-Some players weren’t at their top form like Zidan and Abu Treika but one has to realize the pressure upon them to achieve this victory.

-Abdel Zaher El Saqqa was the true hero of defense; although the last game he played with the team was back in 2006, he adapted quickly and became part of the team and almost scored.

-Hani Said lost concentration in two incidents that could have cost dear goals but El Hadary as usual was there to stop it.

-Our flanks operated wonderfully as crosses never stopped; however, they didn’t find the adequate number of strikers.

-Zaki and Meteb were outstanding; Zaki and for the first time focused on playing not on other things While Meteb……oooo Meteb, this is only his third match after a 4 months injury and damit he scored his most important goal ever.

Away from the game,

-stand up for the Egyptian fans; came in an unprecedented numbers, kept on cheering even when things seemed very far, treated the travelling fans well and created the atmosphere that bought Algerians under pressure; especially, in the beginning which was very obvious in their miss passes. Also, they well behaved and didn’t attack or swear on anyone as Algerian Media tried to convince people with; even the FIFA representative hailed them and their attitude…….thank you Egyptians.

-.”why are you celebrating?” Some may ask, “you still accomplished nothing”…….True, but we returned into this competition from far far far behind; Algerians were celebrating qualification after their victory over Zambia but we kept on winning a game after another until we reached this point; and even during the game, as everyone were losing hope and even some started to leave and Algerians were ready to celebrate once agian, we returned; with spirit and persistence we returned; this is why we are celebrating, not because we beat Algeria. We now have even chances after we had no chance at all!!!

-after every victory, some Algerians and Pro-Algerians would come here and try to demoralize us and bring us down; one time they say this goal was offside, this goal was a foul and that goal, the ball crossed the line…..i personally got used to that and to be clear, they won’t shut up until we win this ticket. Until this time comes, ignore them the same way we ignored the Algerian provocations in the stands.

-I don’t see Sudan as a neutral ground; I see Sudan as our only true second country. Proof? Egyptian can go there anytime without even having to get Visas so we will flood Khartoum even before the Algerians get visas not to mention the 120 thousand Egyptians living there!!!

-Sudanese people will ALL support us, even the officials there are with Egypt and were eagerly awaiting a tiebreaker there to show support for Egypt…..historically, Egypt and Sudan have always been one country.

Bn7ebak ya ZOL!!

2olo YA RAB…..

OM EL DONYA 3′ASB 3AN 3EN 2Y 7AD

I LOVE SUDAN!!

Stakes?….everything is at stake; we have went through many ups and downs in this world cup qualification campaign, emerging from a successful African cup of nations In 2008, expectations were high from us but we stumbled and we had to fight back for the ticket and had to live some nervous killing moments waiting for very crucial goals in order to reach this day.

The road wasn’t paved at all; starting from Malawi to Zambia to Algeria we had many disappointments, and then came the injuries that deprived us from almost all our strikers and we had to play with youngsters in do or die matches; all under the demoralization campaign from the opponent and even from some local media, but here we are now playing for our ticket not waiting for other results.

It’s a game which we all dreamed of; I myself had a couple of dreams about the game and we were victorious in both. It’s a game which every one of us thought about a lot, each putting his formation and predicting possible scenarios for it.

The toughness of the match isn’t because of the Algerian team, In matches like these, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is; put the lowest ranked team in the group lead with one match remaining and with a goal advantage and bring them to Cairo stadium, they will be as stubborn and difficult as the highest ranked team; in games like these, it’s all about motivation and morals rather than tactics and skills.

But for this particular opponent, things are different; since the 1970’s our games against Algeria has always been great derbies, if not the greatest, in Africa and the Middle East, our matches always witnessed high tension, aggressive physical football and sometimes on field clashes….reasons? I really don’t know but this has always been the case!!

This time, the tension is higher than ever; a one month gap between Zambia’s game and Saturday’s game accompanied by the suspension of local competitions to allow both national teams to get ready for the event left the media with nothing else to talk about so consequently they both fueled the fans to the boiling point which wouldn’t have been the case had the game been played in a period of one week.

New technology played its part, bringing the rivalry to the screens of fans on both countries who consequently got involved and started exchanging videos, articles, pictures, songs….etc.

The heated build up for the game resulted in hundreds of thousands of fans piling up while trying to get tickets for the game; consequently, the black market flourished in an unprecedented way making it the only possible way for getting a ticket.

Away from the fans, the game represents the last chance for many players among the national team to appear on the world stage; not to mention the glory they will get in case of qualification; I guess the need-less fans’ motivation to win the game.

Algeria

I strongly agree with the third and fourth line.

Anyway, it is only for humor purposes!!

Team roster

Goalkeepers: Lounes Gaouaoui (Chlef), Faouzi Chaouchi (Setif), Mohamed Ousserir (Belouizdad).

Defenders: Madjid Bougherra (Rangers, Scotland), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth, England), Anthar Yahia (Bochum, Germany), Rafik Halliche (Nacional, Portugal), Slimane Raho (Setif), Samir Zaoui (Chlef), Reda Babouche (MC Alger), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Setif)

Midfielders: Yazid Mansouri (Lorient, France), Djamel Abdoun (Nantes, France), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth), Yacine Bezzaz (Strasbourg, France), Karim Matmour (Monchengladbach, Germany), Karim Ziani (Wolfsburg, Germany), Mourad Meghni (Lazio, Italy), Hameur Bouazza (Blackpool, England), Khaled Lemouchia (Setif)

Strikers: Rafik Saifi (Al-Khor, Qatar), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens, Greece), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena, Italy), Kamel Ghilas (Hull, England)

Team news

They have been camping in Florence, Italy for the past week; they have a lot of injuries

Egypt

The best thing Shehata did is taking the players away from all this hype and putting them in a completely isolated atmosphere seeking concentration on the upcoming challenge.

As I said, the players need no motivation messages to win this game, they know that we have stayed away from this competition for the past 20 years and all our African titles won’t mean much if we don’t qualify, or at least some say so; they know it is their last chance to play in a world cup and they already got a taste of it during the confederations cup last June.

Apart from Wael Gomaa and doubtful Hosni Abd Raboh, we don’t have any major absentees; In fact, Zidan and El Saqqa returned to the team in a perfect time when they are needed the most, adding to the attacking and defensive power of the team.

Speculation is surrounding the possible starting eleven and the formation; with the exception of El Hadary, Hani Said, Abu Treika and Sayed Moawad, everyone is a possible starter.

However, the players will be chosen according to the formation and game plan; we need to score 2 goals at least, preferably at the early stages of the game. According to this Shehata is most likely going to focus on midfield and strikers with special care for Moawad who has proven to be the key player in the team.

Tanzania’s game isn’t an indication of anything as it was merely a physical rehearsal for the game; however, based on previous games, one can expect that:

- Fathy would start either in midfield or defense depending on El Saqqa’s form.
- Barakat isn’t a possible starter, maybe he will come in during the second half.
- Homos might find a place in this game.
- One of either Zaki or Meteb will start.

Shehata remains in front of two difficult challenges; scoring and keeping a clean sheet at the same time; for that purpose he needs to attack wisely, take advantage of the opponent’s gaps and closing his.

This video explains some of the Algerian team gaps

From our side, we need to close on Matmour, never give him the space to shoot from distance and on the other side, always keep Belhadj busy in defense. Regarding Ziani and Ghezzal, they can be handled as long as the flanks are off duty.

Free kicks might be the secret key of the game; they are very good at it while we suck whenever there is a free kick against us and this applies to all Egyptian teams, clubs and national teams; so we need to concentrate and we need to put defenders who can play with their head and defend aerial balls well.

On the other hand, the expected pile up of Algerian defense in their zone can be meaningless in free kicks especially direct ones, Abu Treika would do the job; we all remember El Saqqa’s third goal in Algeria!!

The most important thing is to keep focused and never lose hope or rush things, remember they scored their 3 goals in a matter of 20 minutes on the second half after an Egyptian dominated first half.

Probable formation

…………………………………El Hadary……………
…El Mohamadi……Oka…….Hani Said……..El Saqqa……Moawad
………..……Ahmed Hassan (Fathi)……Homos……………..
……………….………Abu Treika…….Zidan………..
………………………..……….Meteb………………………..

For more tactical discussions check here

The match

Certainly it is not a match for the faint-hearted people; Excitement and anticipation has reached its peak, flags are sold everywhere, conversations must include Egypt- Algeria, and almost all advertisements on TV, Radio and in the streets are based on the match which means that the pressure is high on everyone.

There would be another match in the stands and outside the stadium (friendly I hope) as thousands of fans, Algerians and Egyptians who couldn’t find a ticket and will most probably compromise for watching the game together in one of the many Cafes in Nasr City.

We need a goal and we need it quick; however, the trick is not to rush the players and instead, keep on cheering for them.

Scenarios are endless and possibilities are wide open, anyone can snatch the victory but the most tactical disciplined and most importantly, the one who has Lady Luck on his side would emerge victorious.

It will be either an open game or a very closed one, an early goal would change things upside-down but we have to know that even If Algeria scores, it doesn’t mean anything and returning from behind isn’t impossible.

Frankly speaking, I hope Algeria starts attacking and give up defense so that we can play more freely; it will be a battle of tactics and individual skills that has to be said.

Prediction: South Africa isa

When: 7:30 pm (CLT), 5:30 pm (GMT)

Where to watch: Egyptian TV online (not guaranteed but try it anyway) or ATDHE. net (if anyone has good streaming, please share it with us)

Nothing remains but our prayers, roars in the stadium and our best wishes for our team.

SHEDY 7ELEK YA BALAD

2olo………. YA RAB

Friday 17th November 20 years ago; in a day like no other, the Notorious busy streets of Cairo were left deserted, people returned from Friday prayers, sat in their living rooms as families gathered to watch the long anticipated encounter between the Egyptian National Team and Algeria to determine the 2nd African representative beside Cameroon in 1990 world cup on Egyptian TV, the only available option to watch a football game by then.

In Nasr City Suburb, the scene was totally different around Cairo Stadium; the fans spent the night before the game beside the stadium, sleeping in front of the gates until they were opened next day and fans were allowed inside. By then Cairo Stadium, known as the graveyard of Africa especially in the 1980’s period as no African team – club or national team- came here and survived, had benches that could receive 120 thousand fans unlike the chairs that limited the stadium’s capacity to 76 thousand only.

As fans flooded into the stands hours before the match, everybody was shouting MASR MASR (Egypt); developed cheering techniques weren’t as developed as nowadays after the introduction of Ultras groups in Egyptian stadiums with there jargon (Curva, Tifo….etc) banners and chants. Back during this time, Egyptian TV used to air the songs of Yasmeen El Khyam** “El masryeen ahomah” (these are the Egyptians) and Shadia’s “ya habebty ya masr” (Egypt my love) which was more than enough to spark the enthusiasm of the fans.

I should say that by then, Cairo Stadium wasn’t a suitable place for girls or families; it was only real men who attended football games and cheered “Salo 3al nabi….salo 3al nabi”

The opponent was tough, actually the toughest in African comprising the likes of Madjer, Belloumi and others who excelled in top European clubs while the home team was formed of players playing in local clubs Ahly and Zamalek; however, they had a special coach. Mahmoud El Gohary, a coach who can make miracles come true, a coach who built a strong team who could beat the best of the best (which was later proven right in the world cup).

The away match in Algeria ended in a 0-0 draw so hopes were high and everyone was motivated; the match was the last chance to appear on the international scene for stars Like Bebo, Taher Abu Zeid, Magdi Abdel Ghani, Gamal Abdel Hamid, Thabet El Batal and other stars who excelled during the 1980’s; but it was also the starting point of the careers of Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan, Hani Ramzy, Ahmed El Kass, Shobeir…..etc

The game started; it took only 5 minutes for this to happen

The game then went in one direction; Algerians whose reputation was being threatened tried their best to equalize but they faced a tactically tough side who could keep a goal.

Algeria, however, wasted many chances but fortunately the game ended 1-0 and Egypt returned to the world cup after 56 years of absence since 1934 in Italy only to play in the same country again in 1990.

Watch the celebrations

That game meant so much that people celebrated all night long, a tradition that followed during the world cup itself and until now after every major victory.

Listen to the people who were there

Under the same conditions we look forward to our game against the same opponent…..let’s just hope that we achieve the same outcome but not the same score isa.

Under these conditions we had to play our friendly against Tanzania, aired live on air on almost all Egyptian channels; put yourself in Shehata’s shoes, having nothing more to keep secret, all your cards have been exposed…what will you do?

Well, Shehata disappointed all those who were eager to watch Tanzania’s friendly to see a preview of how the Egyptian team will look like in Algeria’s game and adopted a counter espionage tactic based on the following:

1- Mix the players; putting that instead of this and this instead of that.

Moawad played in midfield, Barakat played in the left wing, Homos played in defense, no play maker, Fathi played in Midfield…….etc.

2- start with a false formation

Still it is the authentic 3-5-2 formation but do not expect these open spaces in defense; with the return of Shawky, Hosni and Zidan, expect radical changes in the tactics; more offensive but more cautious in defense

3- change the team In the second half

None of the eleven players of the first half continued till the end and none of the second half’s players will play next Saturday, with the exception of one or two maybe.

4- spark speculation over injured players

a conventional tactic used by the other camp; everyday we are bombarded with news of one or two Algerian players being injured which makes one wonder, is there enough players to play next week in Cairo?!! Seriously, this is an old-fashioned and somehow naive tactic in the age of internet and open media.

Back to the game

The over-all performance was good, regardless of the opponent, the team work and chemistry between the players is better than before also the tactical flexibility shown by Moawad and Barakat was eye-catching; one never knew what is there position in the field, one time they are in the flanks, the other they are in midfield and some times they were sending assists.

The return of Meteb and Zaki who is beginning to restore some of his form and scoring his first goal from open play since ages are all good signs and provide Shehata with more options in attack and may even change the whole game plan.

Tanzania’s goal is hard to swallow but with their performance one could never expect that they have a player who can shoot from this far and hit the goal; plus, the lack of any Tanzanian attack left Egyptian defense untested and players started to loose concentration.

What should be noted though is that shooting from distance is a usual tactic used by Algeria and we have to never give them the space to do this and El Hadary has to expect long range shots and be able to deal with it.

Some would say that the opponent is weak and the game is meaningless; somehow true, but playing a competitive game is better than training sessions which no matter how serious they are can’t put a player to the test.

One thing I couldn’t understand is why Tanzania’s players were rough in their play, they almost got one or two players injured; our players on the other hand interfered in unneeded challenges that could have cost them a lot.

All in all, the game serves as a confidence booster, especially for Meteb and Zaki; now with the return of foreign based professionals things will get even better, and all what remains is the roars of 80 thousand Egyptian fans in Cairo stadium and lady luck joining our camp.

By the way, this is a video of the goals leaked from the national team’s intelligence archives……enjoy