The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) tried to manipulate public opinion on the Egypt-Algeria feud over the past few months but it once again proved to be completely deceitful and unreliable. Emotions ran high when Egyptian fans were attacked by Algerian hooligans right after November's World Cup decider between both teams in Sudan. The whole thing was blown out of proportion when political figures released some inflammatory statements and demonstrations were staged near the Algerian embassy in Cairo. Words like massacre, casualties, knifemen, and mercenaries were first used by the press and officials to describe the unfortunate post-match incidents. These terrifying words, however, were not accompanied by a single piece of tangible evidence that Sudan was such a battlefield. All the Egyptian supporters came back home safe and sound with dozens of horrifying stories about how degenerate Algerians had tried to hunt them down. But no injuries, videos, photos or even testimonies substantiated their claims. The Sudanese authorities even denied that any clashes had occurred in the first place. It was initially understood that harsh sanctions would be imposed on Algeria. Some people even thought that a replay was on the cards and Egypt could still reach the World Cup. But weeks after the playoff, it became crystal clear that there was a great deal of exaggeration in the Egyptian football scene and the baseless hope started to fade away. Meanwhile, the EFA's officials were busy trying to brainwash the Egyptian public. They reiterated that they would unequivocally verify the alleged attack on the Egyptian supporters and assured that FIFA would definitely rule in Egypt's favor. "We have prepared an official document that contains all the facts as well as enough proof that the Egyptian fans were assaulted," EFA president Samir Zaher said months ago. "FIFA will take the Sudan incidents into consideration."
Halliche had his head bandaged up But the world governing body disillusioned whoever took for granted Zaher's words. "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee determined that the conditions for opening disciplinary proceedings had not been met and therefore decided to close this matter," a FIFA official statement reads. Empty Words Zaher, who once blamed FIFA for the chaos that succeeded Egypt's 1-0 loss because it 'allowed too many Algerians to travel to Sudan', stressed that the EFA will call for a new investigation. "We will appeal against FIFA's decision. We will also escalate the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) should FIFA refuse to re-open this case," he stated. But renowned pundit Hassan Al-Mestekawi is convinced that an appeal won't make the slightest change. "I think that appealing against FIFA's decision (regarding the Sudan incidents) won't change anything," he told FilGoal.com. "They (the EFA's officials) once said they would reveal all the facts about what had happened in a press conference, but it was never held. "It was also claimed that some evidence would be submitted to FIFA. Again, they were just empty words. "So this possible appeal will be useless I would say. We cannot prove by any means that our fans were attacked in Sudan." Not only did FIFA shut the door on the playoff case, but also sanctioned Egypt for the assault on Algeria's bus in Cairo. Egypt were ordered to play their first two home 2014 World Cup qualifiers at least 100 kilometers away from Cairo and were also fined CHE 100,000 (around EGP 500,000). The Desert Foxes maintained that they were hurled by stones shortly after landing in the Egyptian capital to play a crucial World Cup qualifier against the Pharaohs, four days before the decider.
Al-Mestekawi The Algerians backed up their claims with a video and photos showing that Rafik Halliche and Khaled Lemmouchia, among others, had suffered head injuries in the attack. Flagrant Contradiction Back in November, the EFA stated that the Algerian players had broken their bus windows by using hammers in order to wrongfully accuse the Egyptian fans of misconduct. The driver even testified that some of the Algerians had deliberately cut their own heads open to make their 'sham' more plausible. Nonetheless, Zaher came up with a whole different story after FIFA had announced Egypt's punishment. "Several (Egyptian) young men stoned the bus after they were provoked by some gestures from the (Algerian) players," he told Orbit TV. Presenter Amr Adib confronted Zaher with the fact that this is a whole different story from the previous one but the latter erroneously emphasized that he had revealed the same details a while back. Scandal Al-Mestekawi highlighted the EFA's lack of transparency and incompetency, branding the way it had dealt with the drawn-out saga as a 'scandal'. "Everybody knew that the Algerian players were attacked in Cairo," he commented. "The EFA's officials denied what happened in order to save their blushes but no one believed them. "We deserved to be punished and the EFA's reaction to this issue was a real scandal. "You may deceive the people part of the time, but not all the time," Al-Mestekawi concluded.
