Egypt – Algeria preview: SHOWTIME!!

This is it, it’s now or never, it’s all or nothing; after almost one year of fighting in the African jungles and North African deserts, the grudge match has come. The sleepless city of Cairo will witness a historical day when the Egyptian team, backed by 80 million fan hosts Algeria for the world cup qualification ticket.

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