The Egyptian FA landed itself in hot water with fans in the football-mad country after it failed to publicly state the truth over the incidents that preceded the Pharaohs' home clash against Algeria last year. Algeria's team bus was stoned ahead of November's World Cup qualifier, prompting world governing FIFA to force Egypt to play their first two home games in the next qualifiers at least 100km outside Cairo. FilGoal.com selected the top five misleading statements in Egyptian football during the past decade. 1- Algeria bus, stoned or not stoned? Three Algerian players were injured after the team's bus was attacked before a highly-charged World Cup qualifier last November in Cairo. Some fans, who looked provoked by the war of words between media of both countries before the game, hurled stones at the bus on its way to the hotel from Cairo airport. Algeria filed a complaint with FIFA and rumors at that time suggested that the game might be switched to another country. Instead of trying to contain the situation, the Egyptian FA officials accused Algeria of faking the incident. Mahmoud Taher, an EFA board member, said the Algerian players were the ones who caused the bus's damage. After FIFA punished Egypt, EFA chairman Samir Zaher admitted that Algeria's bus was attacked by 'some boys'. 2- Where are the documents? Egypt said their fans were attacked by Algerian supporters following a World Cup play-off in Sudan last November, which the Desert Foxes won 1-0 to book a place at this year's South Africa finals. The incident sparked waves of anger in Egypt and strained the diplomatic relationship between the most populous Arab country and Algeria. The EFA vowed to lodge a complaint with FIFA and support their cause with pictures, videos and documents which clearly show that Egyptian supporters were harmed in Omdurman. But it could not fulfill its promise, with FIFA deciding to close the matter because "the Disciplinary Committee determined that the conditions for opening disciplinary proceedings had not been met." The so-called documents apparently included nothing to convince FIFA there was any need for investigation. 3- Match replay, Algeria again! Egypt failed to reach the 2002 World Cup after drawing 1-1 away to Algeria in an infamous game in July 2001. The match was disrupted by crowd trouble, stones and bottles thrown from the stands, with one of them injuring then Egypt assistant coach Alaa Nabil. Although Senegal eventually advanced to the World Cup from the group of Egypt and Algeria, the EFA refused to concede defeat. It kept assuring people for around 30 days that FIFA will have no option but to replay the game upon its complaint. The fans still had hope that Egypt would reach the World Cup for the first time since 1990. Such option was not even on the cards for FIFA, who naturally dismissed Egypt's complaint. 4- 'Impressive' World Cup bid Egypt decided it has what it takes to host the 2010 World Cup but confidence ran too high among the EFA officials and people alike. The country launched a bid, that it believed was impressive, to stage the football's most prestigious tournament, competing with South Africa and Morocco. It released many statements describing how FIFA president Sepp Blatter was impressed when the Egyptian delegation, which included renowned actor Omar Sharif, made their presentation. The EFA kept saying that Egypt had a strong chance to win the rights of hosting the World Cup. Egypt eventually got zero votes in what was later known as "the zero World Cup scandal". 5- Invented photo Ahli could not win the Champions League in 2007 after losing 3-1 at home to Tunisian side Etoile Sahel. But the Red Devils hardly accepted that defeat, making a shocking claim on their website that Moroccan referee Abderrahim El Arjoun was spotted meeting with Etoile vice-president Jalel Krifa in France capital Paris before the game. They said they had received a photo showing that. But the alleged photo never came to the surface.
