Egypt's absence from the World Cup does not imply abstinence by viewers, as discovered by Alaa Abdel-Ghani and Ahmed Morsy Egypt failed in its bid to host the 2010 World Cup. And we had no success when we tried to qualify for it. The only thing left is to watch it. We are, of course, much more used to watching World Cups from our living rooms than being on site. Egypt has gone to the World Cup just twice, the first in 1934. It took 56 laborious years before we made it again, in 1990. That maiden appearance made us the first African country to go to the World Cup. Coupled with our three recent consecutive African crowns, the records strengthened our claim to being the best on the continent. Pioneers of the past and a present of perfection, we should have been in this World Cup. And out of all World Cups, we should have been in this one, the first to be held in Africa. Watching this World Cup, which starts tomorrow, will not be easy for us because all of Egypt concedes we let slip a golden opportunity to be in South Africa. In the qualifiers Algeria beat us to the punch while South Africa trumped us as hosts. So we will neither play nor play host. Watch, though, we shall, for despite the bitter pill, we cannot pass on the world's biggest soccer stage nor forgo the greatest passion of our lives. We shall watch, and not just from our living rooms. For every World Cup played, new ideas for watching its matches are born. The latest method, seemingly invented mainly for teenagers, is the PlayStation store turned World Cup provider. PlayStation stores are usually an apartment of several rooms, each with an LCD television and always air-conditioned. The rooms are usually dark, lit dimly only by the fluttering light of the LCDs. You can order tea, Nescafé, fresh juice and sandwiches while playing PlayStation games, and do the same thing while watching the World Cup. Rami Mohamed, 26, is an owner of one PlayStation shop who found it profitable to make use of the place; during the World Cup no one comes to play PlayStation. "Teens always go to watch the games in cafés but they don't always find a place to sit because they are too crowded and sometimes they're forced to sit too far from the screen," Mohamed told Al-Ahram Weekly. "That's what made me think of inviting them to watch the matches in the same place they play in, and for only LE5 an hour." "Each group of friends rents a room to watch the games, fully concentrating while comfortably watching," Mohamed said as if pitching an ad. No creation can ever displace the street cafés which are ready to host the largest phalanx they can squeeze in because the World Cup attracts customers like Greg to Dharma. "It's our season and so we're fully ready to make sure our customers feel as if they're in a real stadium," Diaa Noureddin, owner of Kiro's Café, said. "We increased the number of LCDs and will give away gifts. The staff will also paint the flags of the participating teams on customers' faces," Noureddin added with a straight face. Will they raise the minimum charge during the World Cup? "No, because we are working according to a standard policy." Maged Mustafa, 28, is a waiter working in the same café. "I'm a football fan like any other. However, it's sometimes difficult for me to watch the matches during my shift," said Mustafa. "I concentrate 80 per cent on work and 20 on the game. After I finish my shift, I'll stay in the café to watch the rest of the match or the following one." Whether PlayStations or cafés, in the end the medium employed is called television and that box of wonders will be strategically located anywhere and everywhere, in clubs, shoe stores, barber shops, malls, hotels, kiosks, fast food chains. You name it, we got it. TV rights have meant Egyptians can no longer watch the entire World Cup for free, as was the case from 1978 to 2002 when every World Cup was beamed live in its entirety. In 2006 in Germany, Egypt's public television showed us only four matches -- the opening game, the two semi-finals and the final. To calm the clamorous public displeased with the paucity of matches, Egyptian TV bought the rights to broadcast 22 matches in 2010 to be aired on the channel Nile Sport. That is only one-third of the 64-match package. Those deciding what we will see must be extremely selective, but it's better than before. Besides public TV, home viewers have a three-pronged choice: Al-Jazeera subscription, Euro sports channels or the wasla, a master cable which possesses the decoded channels. Despite being illegal waslas are famously shared by homes and offices. The www generation can watch live streamed matches, a practice expected to jam online traffic for miles. Some people struck luck. Islam Essam, 27, won a free-of-charge trip to South Africa provided by a hair styling product company. "I found a card when I bought a hair gel," said Essam who will attend the final. "I scratched it and sent the number by SMS a month ago, and they phoned me two weeks later telling me I won a trip to South Africa." An international soft drink company made Basma Naguib one happy young lady -- temporarily, anyway. "I was about to buy a soft drink when someone came up to me, urging me to buy two cans instead of one in order to increase the possibility of going to the World Cup," Naguib, 26, said. "So I bought two cans and he asked me to choose one of six cards he had in his hand. I picked one, he scratched out a number and said, 'Congratulations, you're going to South Africa.'" However, Naguib's father refused she travel alone. Like any caring dad he took the ticket and is going to South Africa. By himself. (see pp.16-17)
