Egypt failed to end their World Cup jinx after losing 1-0 to Algeria in the playoff on Wednesday to gift their North African rivals the Group C ticket for next year's South Africa finals. Central defender Antar Yahia scored the winner five minutes before the break after capitalizing on a defensive blunder to send Algeria fans, who filled half of Al-Merreikh Stadium in Sudanese city Omdurman, into ecstasy. Algeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 while Egypt, who made their last appearance in 1990, will have to wait four more years to find out whether they will make it to the football's most prestigious event. Coach Hassan Shehata, who led Egypt to back-to-back Nations Cup titles in 2006 and 2008, has failed in his first real test in the World Cup qualifiers. The 60-year-old took over from Italian Marco Tardelli in the latter stages of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers but did not have much time to make an impact. Meteb Rewarded Egypt welcomed back central defender Wael Gomaa after he missed Saturday's 2-0 home victory over Algeria due to suspension. Influential midfielder Hosni Abd-Rabou started on the bench for the second successive match despite recovering from an ankle injury. Meteb, who headed in the precious winner in the previous encounter, was rewarded with a starting berth to partner Amr Zaki upfront as Mohamed Zidan was not included in the starting line-up. Egypt once again failed to make use of long balls in the first-half but were energized by some neat moves from wingers Ahmed Al-Muhammadi and Sayed Moawad. The Pharaohs survived a first Algeria scare on the quarter hour when they failed to clear a Karim Ziani free-kick as Yahia, in the subsequent goalmouth scramble, fired goalwards but was thwarted by a last-ditch interception from Gomaa. Egypt then took control when Moawad and Al-Muhammadi combined with Abou-Treika and skipper Ahmed Hassan on the flanks. With Algeria's full-backs Nadir Belhadj and Madjid Bougherra struggling to close down spaces, Egypt wasted two goalscoring opportunities.
Shehata disappointed at display Abou-Treika should have done better when he blasted a superb Mowad pull back wide of the post on 31 minutes. Al-Muhammadi was unlucky to see a close-range shot blocked by Algeria stand-in keeper Fawzi Chaouchi three minutes later. Algeria Lead A rare defensive lapse allowed Algeria to open the scoring on 40 minutes when the unmarked Yahia, under no pressure from nearest challenger Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa, smashed a powerful volley into the roof of the net after a long ball caused havoc in Egypt's backline. The Desert Foxes adopted an expected defensive strategy in the second period to keep their precious lead intact. The Pharaohs, on the other hand, relied on useless long balls that did them no favors. Shehata introduced Zidan and Abd-Rabou in a bid to pile on pressure but Egypt still struggled to break down a resolute defense. They squandered two clear-cut opportunities though. On 62 minutes, Zidan skipped past two defenders inside the area and fed Meteb, who spun around and hit a low shot that was blocked by the in-form Chaouchi, who played instead of the suspended Lounes Gaouaoui. Abd-Rabou also failed to find the net ten minutes later with the goal at his mercy when a superb reflex save from Chaouchi denied him from four yards out. Egypt sought a repeat of Meteb's stoppage-time goal at Cairo Stadium but couldn't find a way through to shatter their World Cup dream.
