Emad Meteb towered and headed an invaluable winner for Egypt against Algeria in Saturday's crucial World Cup qualifier but that did not really mean the Pharaohs' aerial challenges were effective. Egypt excelled to score two goals, an early and a late one, and force a playoff with Algeria for the last African place at next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. They go into Wednesday's decider as favorites but will have to be alert after failing to trouble the Algerians with long balls during the match that was played amid a tense atmosphere between the North African rivals. Egyptians relied on long upfield passes for the majority of the game but their efforts were to no avail, with strike duo Amr Zaki and Mohamed Zidan struggling to out-jump the opposing defenders. Antar Yahia, Rafik Halliche and Madjid Bougherra, although troubled by some silky passes from Egypt in the early stages of the game, found no difficulty beating them to long balls. "Egypt players hastily sought to overturn the deficit so they used long balls, this was natural," former Ahli coach Fathi Mabrouk, who was Mahmoud Al-Gohari's assistant during Egypt's 1990 World Cup campaign, told FilGoal.com. "I don't think they will apply the same tactics in Wednesday's clash, things will be much different. I think short passes might be more useful for Egypt." Dangerous Crosses
Air battles Egypt failed to make use of long balls but also risked conceding a stunning goal on several occasions, thanks to Algeria's dangerous crosses. The Desert Foxes' accurate crosses from set pieces and open play played a key role in their 3-1 home victory over Egypt in June and could have haunted the six-time African champions again. Veteran goalie Essam Al-Hadari put in an outstanding display to thwart two attempts from Antar Yahia and Mourad Meghni after Egypt defenders were caught ball-watching. "Strangely, we are still having the same problems in set pieces," renowned pundit and Al-Shorouk analyst Hassan Al-Mestekawi said. "All people were very worried because of that and kept praying every time Algeria were awarded a free-kick," he joked. Egypt could have shaken world football in the Confederations Cup five months ago but suffered a last-gasp 4-3 defeat to five-times world champions Brazil, who exposed their opponents' vulnerability in set pieces. "These are recurring mistakes; our defenders are ball-watchers," former Egypt and Zamalek defender Ibrahim Youssef said. Egypt, who are bidding to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1990, might just need improvement in aerial contests to demonstrate their superiority over fierce rivals Algeria.
