Egypt barely got by Kenya despite playing the two legs on home territory. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab sees what almost went wrong Against a Kenyan side reduced to nine men, Egypt became the first nation to qualify for the All-Africa Games in Nigeria. Following a goalless draw in the first leg, held in the Egyptian city of Port Said a week earlier, last week's match was also held in Egypt. The peculiar situation stemmed from a last-minute withdrawal by Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia from the Group 5 format. The three teams claimed Egypt had reneged on promises to pay for expenses and were pulling out in protest. After the withdrawal, African football's governing body, CAF, ruled that both matches would take place in Egypt since the Kenyans never returned home after the first leg. The second match was considered Kenya's home ground. Consequently, a draw more than 0-0 would have been enough to see Egypt through. In the event, Egypt won but had to come from behind to do so. The Kenyans put up a brave fight but a physical game cost them two red cards. Tanzanian referee Abdul-Kadir Issack sent off Adam Shaaban in the 25th minute and Andrew 10 minutes before the final whistle. Despite playing with a numerical disadvantage, the Kenyans took the lead through Dennis Oaking in the 47th minute. The lead would not last, however, as Egyptian substitute Mohamed Mohsen Abu-Greisha, who replaced the injured Mimo just before the break, scored a brace in the 64th and 87th minutes. The Egyptians were made up of under-20 players, the same batch which took third place in last year's world youth championships in Argentina. But against Kenya they were largely unimpressive. "We played only two warm-up games, against Qatar and Tunisia, after the league season began," coach Shawqi Gharib said. "They lacked fitness and coherence," he added, saying that many of his charges were rusty from sitting on the bench of their respective clubs. "Moreover the U-20 league is not strong so it weakens the players' performance on the African and international level." Still, the team's record is enviable. In 26 formal games the squad has lost only four times. It has suffered the same number of losses in 43 friendlies. The team has several upcoming friendlies, with China, Norway, Brazil and the Czech Republic in a tournament in Qatar when the domestic league takes a break starting 10 January. They will also meet Russia and the Ukraine in February. In other African developments, Tunisia has confirmed that it will bid to host the 2010 World Cup. The head of the Tunisian Football Federation, Hammouda Ben Ammar, said on Sunday that Tunisia had sent an official letter of candidacy to football's world governing body FIFA. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has announced that an African nation will host the World Cup for the first time in 2010. Tunisia will face stiff competition from Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, all bidding for football's biggest competition. There has been speculation that Tunisia and Morocco might present a joint bid but Ben Ammar said no decision would be taken until April. "For the moment our bid is independent," he said. "We'll study this with the Maghreb Soccer Federation and we may organise the event jointly." Tunisia will host the African Nations Cup finals in 2004.
