Egyptian and other Arab fans were involved in a hugely absorbing yet fractious week. Doaa El-Bey shared in the jubilation of Egypt's win over Algeria but did not forget what the World Cup qualifier really meant Throughout the week, newspapers without exception focussed on the preparations for the crucial World Cup qualifying match with Algeria on Saturday 14 November. Then came the game, and the last-moment Egyptian victory, followed by widespread jubilation and preparations for the ensuing 18 November playoff in Sudan. Banner headlines hailed Saturday's victory. Al-Ahram wrote: "Congratulations, Egypt to head to a conclusive match in Sudan" and from Al-Masry Al-Yom, "The national team offered Egypt a rose in the first minute and a kiss of life in the last minute". "Fans' cheers shook Cairo Stadium" reported Al-Wafd . Stories on the front pages and inside focussed on travel preparations for the team as well as the fans: Rose El-Youssef said, "Instructions from the Foreign Ministry to Sudan to facilitate the stay of the team and fans". Al-Masry Al-Yom read, "Hassan Shehata calls on all Egyptians to pray for their team". From Al-Gomhuriya, "Mubarak: unlimited support for our team to qualify for the World Cup". Newspapers also focussed on the skirmishes between the Egyptian and Algerian fans. Al-Wafd 's front page headline read, "Algerian fans hit Egyptian employees at Cairo Airport before departing" and "The arrest of 35 Egyptian fans who destroyed three Algerian buses in Nasr City". Salah Montasser described Saturday as the longest day in the life of millions of Egyptians. But the tension they lived during the day did not end by day's end; it will extend to Wednesday when the decisive match is played in Sudan. Montasser wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram that Saturday's match witnessed three surprises: scoring the first goal in the second minute of the match which made the Egyptian team more relaxed and more focussed on playing rather than scoring. The second was when the referee decided to give six minutes of extra time. The third or the mother of all surprises was scoring the second goal with just two minutes left. The writer added that there are lessons to be learnt from the match: we are engaged with Algeria in a match, not a war. Our dream of reaching the World Cup is also the dream of our competitors, and Egypt is great for its morals as well as its history and status in the region. In an attempt to analyse the results of the match, Mohamed Gaballah focussed on the mistakes rather than the victory. He blamed both Egyptian and Algerian media coverage of the match which whipped up emotions as if it were a civil war rather than a sporting event that is supposed to link peoples and help in resolving their differences, not creating them. "I think Saturday's match created a mountain of ice between the two states. It will take great effort and time to melt it," Gaballah wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. He called on the team coach Hassan Shehata and the players to look carefully at their mistakes and called on the officials in the Egyptian Football Association to study the factors that led to creating such a hostile feeling between the two teams. Mohamed El-Shabba wrote that the match united all Egyptians in one cause, victory. Thus, Saturday night did not witness any crimes, incidents of sectarian strife or an opposition demonstration against the government. Instead, each and every person was either on his way to the stadium or to the nearest café to watch the match with friends. Everybody was engaged in creating a delight which is only achieved through football victories. "If we unite, we can achieve victory in other fields. We can vote for those who deserve to rule us. We can say no to corruption and injustice and punish those who plunder our money. The poor can improve their status by realising the value of work," El-Shabba wrote in the independent daily Nahdet Masr. Mohamed Abdel-Fattah seized the opportunity of the match to shed light on the performance of the national TV channels and that of the privately- owned channels. He criticised Minster of Information Anas El-Fiqi's decision to allow the national channels to exclusively broadcast the match. As a result, the private channels abstained from broadcasting any programmes during the match as an act of protest. "By insisting on broadcasting the match exclusively on the national channels, El-Fiqi failed to present programmes that attract the Egyptian viewer or to compete with private channels," Abdel-Fattah wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party. As a result, viewers were left with no choice but to watch the match on public channels. But as soon as the game finished, they turned to the private channels to watch the analyses of the match and the coverage of the celebrations on the streets. The writer advised El-Fiqi to sit in front of the TV and watch private channels and try to learn from them. He also advised him to send his aides to training courses on how to report news properly. The widespread coverage of the match came at the expense of issues like swine flu and the Ayyat train accident. The closure of dozens of schools and classes indicated that swine flu is spreading beyond control in Egypt. The World Health Organisation declared this week there are more than half a million cases worldwide, with more than 6,200 dead. Affaf Yehia wrote that the number of cases is regularly increasing, yet the best way to treat the illness at home and the best cure are not yet clear. Washing hands and using a mask have proven not enough if the epidemic spreads. And the surprise, as Yehia added in the official weekly Akhbar Al-Yom, is that doctors are warning against using aspirin- based drugs to reduce the temperature. The start of the trial of the accused in the Ayyat collision was hardly covered this week in spite of the magnitude of the accident. Mohamed Abdel-Nour wrote that an investigation by the prosecution proved that the accident could have been avoided and lives could have been spared had there not been negligence, leniency and irresponsibility. Negligence and irresponsibility, as the writer added in the daily newspaper Rose El-Youssef, has nothing to do with the amount of money an employee gets at the end of the month. Also, it is not linked to the education or culture of the driver, conductor or any other employee in the railway institution. It is linked to the human conscience which should be against laziness, leniency, negligence and indifference.
