CAIRO: Algeria coach Rabah Saadane criticized on Wednesday what he described as the inadequate punishment handed out to Egypt after an attack on his team's bus before November's World Cup qualifier in Cairo. FIFA found Egypt guilty of overcrowding the Cairo Stadium and holding up the Algerian bus, while fans attacked it—resulting in 4 Algerian injuries including 3 players. According to a FIFA statement, Egypt was fined $88,160 and will only be able to play 100km from Cairo for their first two matches in the 2014 World Cup qualifying due to the incidents that erupted before and after their match at home against Algeria on November 14. “The FIFA disciplinary committee took this decision after determining that the EFA had failed to take all the necessary security precautions to ensure the safety of the Algerian delegation, as well as security and order at the Cairo International Stadium,” said FIFA in a statement. “Sincerely, we have to respect it because it's FIFA's decision. I'm not sure it really reflects what we went through and the damage to the bus for example,” Saadane told reporters before a training session. “Certainly it's not satisfactory, but now that we're in the World Cup, it's over, it doesn't matter.” This was the latest football feud between the two rival teams. It all started 20 years ago in Cairo, when Egypt won 1-0 to grant them passage to the 1990 Italy finals. Players clashed on the field after the game and chaos irrupted. The fighting resulted in an Egyptian team doctor becoming partially blind. Egypt then threatened to withdraw from the African Nations Cup in Algeria the following year. Instead they sent a B team and lost all three group games. Saadane said it was up to Egypt to release the tension. “I think it's up to the Egyptian political leaders,” he told reporters. “They're the ones who have created all this controversy, I think they should make an effort, to apologies to Algeria.” BM
