Egypt's clashes against North African neighbors have always been subject of intense pressure but next month's crucial World Cup qualifier at home to Algeria took another twist – a boiling one. Heated verbal exchanges are the least which can define the build up to the hugely anticipated encounter at Cairo Stadium on November 14. Fans, players and even high-profile officials from both sides were involved in numerous wrangles during the past few weeks. "Algeria once said that their trip to Egypt will be joyful and full of entertainment, but I assure them that it won't," Egypt skipper Ahmed Hassan, who switched to an uncommon overenthusiastic stance, said. "Cairo Stadium might accommodate only 80,000 spectators, but I would like to tell the Algerian players that the 80 million Egyptians will be present. "The venue will turn into a stadium of horror." The complicated situation in Group C adds to the excitement of the crunch tie. Egypt need to beat Algeria by a three-goal margin to advance to the World Cup for the first time since 1990. A win by a two-goal margin will set up a playoff meeting against the Desert Foxes on a neutral venue. A draw or even a defeat by a one-goal margin will be enough to hand Algeria, who last qualified for the tournament in 1986, a place in the football's most prestigious event. No Diplomacy
Zaher hits back Egyptian high-profile officials used to adopt a calm approach whenever such arguments erupted, bearing in mind that the country's relationship with their neighbors is more important than any footballing matters. This is no longer the case, with Egyptian FA chairman Samir Zaher hitting back at accusations that Egypt influenced the referee in Algeria's 3-1 victory over Rwanda when they eyed a bigger victory to make sure the Pharaohs lost any hopes of reaching the World Cup. "It is a ridiculous rumor. How can a biased referee give six minutes of injury time, which allowed Algeria to score the third goal," he said. "The referee allowed the Algerian FA president to sit on the bench and that is against FIFA's regulations." The same also applies to Egyptian media, who no longer stress on the 'brother relationship' between Egypt and fellow Arab countries. Few diplomatic comments were made. Renowned presenter and former Egypt winger Mostafa Abdou launched a vicious attack on Algerian media for making some insulting remarks against Egypt. Algerian paper Echorouk also caused outrage after publishing a distorted context of Muslims' holy book Qur'an to describe the state of Egypt ahead of the upcoming qualifier. "They can attack and mock us whenever they want, but dealing with the Qur'an in that way is unacceptable. Football should go to hell if it will lead us to that," Al-Ahram pundit Mohamed Seif commented. Players were also present in the conflict, with Algeria and Bochum defender Antar Yahia and Egypt and Borussia Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan exchanging words before and after their Bundesliga clash earlier this month. On internet message boards, Egyptian fans asked girls and women not to attend 'the November 14 war' because they neither roar nor hurl insults at opposition.
Girls not allowed The majority of women and girls in the football-mad country barely know anything about football and are partially blamed for not making much effort in the stands to support the team. Friendly Attempts Despite the many sagas surrounding the game there have been some attempts to calm things down. Infamous presenter Ahmed Shobeir flew to Algeria to hold interviews with some football icons in the country, including Algerian Football Association president Mohamed Raouraoua. Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm launched a campaign called 'a flower for every Algerian' aimed at decreasing tensions between both sides. Veteran defender Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa, who was surprisingly included in Egypt's squad for the game to fill the void left by the suspension of Wael Gomaa, also urged fans in his FilGoal.com column to remain calm. "We don't want to turn it into a war, our fans must remain respectable and hospitable," he wrote. However, responses are not so positive so far. "We don't want such initiatives because Algerian fans caused us a lot of trouble in the previous meeting," Modern TV presenter Medhat Shalabi, who is also the Egyptian FA spokesman, said. Algeria defeated Egypt 3-1 at home in June after local supporters roamed around Egypt's hotel in the preceding night to make noise and thwart the players' efforts to have a proper sleep, according to Shalabi. Egyptian fans also look determined to make it a trip to forget for Algeria.
