In anticipation of violence at Saturday’s Egypt V. Algeria soccer match, Egypt has promised to amp up security in its Cairo stadium after FIFA issued a statement asking authorities for written guarantees of additional security measures.
The match will determine who gets to go to next year’s World Cup, with Egypt needing to win by a three goal margin to eliminate Algeria. Given the importance of the game, it’s understandable that tension and national sentiment are high. Soccer/football fans around the world are infamous for their hooliganism, violet brawls and a “blood and knuckles” support of their favorite team, (One Egyptian supporters' slogan read: "Victory or martyrdom: Egypt will slaughter Algeria”), yet fervent love of the game, should never bread intolerance. As soon as news broke that Egypt would face Algeria again in the bid for the World Cup, the two countries have been engaging in some serious head-butting-- Zidane style.
Tension was so high, that last week the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm launched a campaign called "A Rose for Every Algerian". Egyptian and Algerian journalists met in Algeria where they exchanged red roses in a symbolic gesture of love and solidarity.
That proved futile, when Egyptian fans attacked the Algerian team as soon as they arrived in Cairo Nov. 13, injuring at least four players and sealing the ruthless rivalry between the two countries. The match, which has appropriately been dubbed, “The match of hate” has officials from both countries concerned, as they remind the public to stay calm and maintain "sportsmanship and a brotherly spirit" ahead of the game. For the past several weeks, blogs, online forums, facebook groups, newspapers talk shows, and virtually any media outlet that mentioned the match became infested with obsessive fans who cursed each other’s mothers, offended each other’s manhood, dissed various cultural aspects and found anyway to bring their opponent down. Some comments from the Egyptian side went so far as to belittle Algerian strife and valor during the War of Independence; others went so far to say Egypt liberated Algeria.
To make matters worse Egyptian authorities were irresponsible in their response to the violence; first by failing to control the angry fans, (it seems the police were spectators in the whole ordeal), and then by denying the incident even took place and intentionally or not, fueling public opinion against the Algerians. They further angered Algerians and legitimized the violence by denying it ever took place. The leading newspaper Al Ahram called the attack a "freak accident" and supported the idea that the Algerians staged the attack. Here's a video of it being carried out.
The piercing words and subsequent violence would rattle even the mildest nationalist, but Arabs have real reason to stress about the backlash of offensive rhetoric and heated emotions. Many will remember the mood during the previous Algeria v Egypt match in 1989, when Egypt won to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. Emotions were high and a bitter rivalry ensued, best characterized by the “Belloumi affair,” when Interpool arrested an Algerian player for a brawl in a Cairo hotel, where an Egyptian fan lost an eye.
On a more philosophical level, the current rivalry is disheartening because it’s symbolic. It ceases to uphold the principles of potential, the idea that the Arab world could be so much more. To the Arab dreamer, the Edward Said loving, Khalil Gibran quoting, Abdul Nasser evoking unifier, the rivalry is a pan-arab allegory. To him, the overzealous Egyptian and Algerians are creating a schism between all Arab and Muslim ‘brothers.” Their feud symbolized the region’s disintegration and fall from grace over something superficial. For in the Middle East, where politics and religion are intertwined, soccer too, is injected with the grimness of the day’s politics.
To the Arab believer, Algerians and Egyptians share a common culture and religion; they are a part of his imagined community-where he is not alone. Amongst Arabs there is a long-standing belief that nationalism and solidarity, (adopted and made famous by Egyptian president Jamal Abdel Nassar) should triumph artificial divisions and colonial interferences. They believe Arabs will not succeed politically unless they join forces and work together. As an Egyptian friend of mine puts it, “Unity is Purity.”
Cast in that light, the overheated Egyptian fans pelting the Algerians with rocks were fighting something sacred, they were embodying the vile of the people of Taif, who encouraged their youth to throw stones at the peaceful Prophet, they were knocking down the noble aspirations of their ancestors and saying “To hell with unity!”
As this Algerian paper put it, “Are we Zionists to deserve such a reception?”
Comments
you are very biased..must be algerian. and p.s, the whole stone throwing was fabricated, algerians did it cuz they were mad that fifa didn't delay the match one more night like they wanted. watch the recent news hun.
Well done Yusra! The Egyprians need a reality check and you gave it to them.
They're streaming it live over at unlocksports.com/watch28015.html for free if you wanna watch it online.
Also if you miss the live stream you can go download the replay at unlocksports.com/file2018451.html (it takes them at least 20 minutes to upload the replay though fyi)
if you'd rather just *buy* access the real way (I use it every so often) then they have it here, but it's NOT free, I think it's like $15 a year or something but it lets you watch basically any tv/movies/sports any time: unlocksports.com/r/s
You've gone way too far with this article...
Shame, shame, shame on Egypt and also on Algeria for allowing these embarrassing events to occur. I think all the games should be played in Israel. The Israelis know how to control out of control Arabs.
"this article a joke or something?" Haven't you seen the video from an Algerian team player inside the bus, been attacked by the egyptian supporters, Egyptian team when they arrived to algeria where welcome with flowers;.; will watch the game now, don't have time to reply on you! Verry good article by the way thanks!
It's a shame Americans seem to think hooliganism is rife in the rest of the football loving world. In truth, it's minorities in those countries where it's present and pretty much non-existant in countries that used to have big problems with hooligans.
this article is actually really biased towards egyptians, it doesnt include what happened in algeria when the egyptiam team went there.
egyptian peoples really need a lesson.they have no moral and ethical values.
Egypt won the game, no violence and people are happy and dancing in the streets, The media is exagerating, as for the bus incident, the Algerians smashed the bus from the inside a few days ago
Bias Bias Bias Bias Bias Bias Bias
and btw we one because we deserved it :)
We won the game cos we are the Pharoes and we totaly dominated the game and for the Algerians so ok i realy reckon that ya should check and prepare properly before ya write any articles yes its the hate game but the Algerians started that n we won n we will be the blach horse in South africa
Mohsen obviously your not arab... vcause that post you made would get you killed in any arab country on this planet thank your lucky stars you live in israel
My article is opinion about the throwing rocks incident in Egypt. I chose that incident because it was on the eve before the game, and because it's symbolism was very strong. Algerians and Egyptians have both been acting very irresponsibly, yet to say Algerians staged the attack and threw rocks and injured themselves is ridiculous.
Just to reiterate most of the comments, this article is an exaggeration, it is biased and it makes unfounded claims. The Algerians did worse things to the Egyptians when they went over there. And besides, this hate business is really over the top the Egyptians have the utmost respect for all Arabs and they feel nothing of the sort towards Algerians. At the end of the day this is not politics, it is football. Anyway Al tawfic li Masr on Wednesday!
"this article a joke or something?" Haven't you seen the video from an Algerian team player inside the bus, been attacked by the egyptian supporters, Egyptian team when they arrived to algeria where welcome with flowers;.; will watch the game now, don't have time to reply on you! Verry good article by the way thanks!
Mohsen...go bang ur head on the wall!!!
egyptians always copp it cos they help arabs and in they end they get #$%^ for it. egyptians will be dammed if they do and dammed if they dont. they won this match fair and square. as for yusra and the rest ur opinion does not count. algerians are full of $#$% so who cares...its only a soccer game!
whatever u choose to write about miss yusra know first as a media person being biased is not the way to write articles u say u spoke about the incident because it was on the eve before the game. check the incident in algeria and what they did to us on the eve b4 and during and after the game. collect all facts i.e. forensic investigation about the incident in egypt, what happened in algeria b4 the game. and then represent ur argument in an unbiased way then prepare and start ur article. right now ur article is based onbiased information which ignores facts and investigation outcomes which if u had taken into consideration as the outcome of the investigation reached by professionals was algerians fabricated this incident, u'd realise that injuring themselves is a fact and is not rediculous. good luck
Yousra is totally right and the fabrication story is childish
look at this video from a french tv channel you can see rocks flying toward the bus
wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=UWzGa8UKCVo
Again this is worst ... a footage was taken by the players themselfs it is horrible I am shocked!!!!!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN5T_BwpbYE&feature=related
wow watch the flowers algerians gave to egyptians. u hypocrites!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S8ptGRNQoc
i have one thing to say...
people are criticizing the egyptains for whatever they did to the algerian team but totally forgot what happened to the egyptian team when they went to play in algeria... they were attacked, cussed out, and humilated... so lets not put the blame on the egyptians only... as they had a right they wanted to take back... thats all... plus egypt was just getting back at algeria for what they did to them.. i'm not saying its right but im just trying to say don't put the blame on them...
fouad
u cant see anything flying anywhere and not coz u like the author's biased opinion that means "shes right" do what she didnt do and investigate and do ur homework b4 judgement
a well fabricated story and great production to make fifa cancel the match.
amazing algerian fans
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_Zuk_qUpg
Egypt will win
i think now it is clear who deserve to win the match....they made stories up about the stones & attacking their bus, they wasted a lot of time during the game in fake injeries, so we had 6 golden mintues of extra time to get our goal......moreover, their already weak goal keeper wont join the next match coz he was wasting a lot of time as well .......so it is time fo algeria to harvest what it planted ...........and by the way, they are who started this media fights and egyptian only re acted to all of that
i think now it is clear who deserve to win the match....they made stories up about the stones & attacking their bus, they wasted a lot of time during the game in fake injeries, so we had 6 golden mintues of extra time to get our goal......moreover, their already weak goal keeper wont join the next match coz he was wasting a lot of time as well .......so it is time fo algeria to harvest what it planted ...........and by the way, they are who started this media fights and egyptian only re acted to all of that
Yousra, thanks for the article..but you need to be less biased next time. Egyptians deserved to win...algerians have done lots of crap to Egypt in the previous years.
latest news
one Algerian fan died after the game from stoning while he was in the bus after the game and trust me there are people arriving to Algiers righ now saying that there is at least four dead and 50 injured
www.dailymotion.com/video/xb5p96_un-supporter-algerien-mort-au-caire_sport
GO EGYPTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
i got nothing to say but check out this links to see how barbaric algerian are. this girl yousra you are nothing but an algerian rat masrawy.com/News/Egypt/Sports/2009/november/15/riot.aspx
masrawy.com/News/Egypt/Sports/2009/november/15/journalism.aspx
viva egypt
after reading many comments over the net , I would like to ask the egytians who claim to be well educated and against the reality of what really happen the following: is only because of a football game you have to attack , cusse and humilate the Algerians palyers and fans ?
in my opinion both nations should be proud of themseleves and for the winner.
i would be suporting any arab nation in the world cup, so please you the claimants before you open your mouths you should review the level of education, if you not able to do so then it's very easy just keep it shut and everyone is happy. peace and love to all
Ya gama3a I said, "As soon as news broke that Egypt would face Algeria again in the bid for the World Cup, the two countries have been engaging in some serious head-butting--Zidane style."
Ya3ni BOTH Egypt and Algeria are to blame. Perhaps I should have added an example of Algerians being violent towards Egyptians before mentioning the rock throwing incident, but I did also say," For the past several weeks, blogs, online forums, facebook groups, newspapers talk shows, and virtually any media outlet that mentioned the match became infested with obsessive fans who cursed each other’s mothers, offended each other’s manhood, dissed various cultural aspects and found anyway to bring their opponent down."
Ya3ni BOTH Egypt and Algeria have been insulting each other.
Again, this article would have been stronger if I mentioned a specific incident of violence from the Algerian team, but as I said BOTH sides are acting out of control.
I Love Egypt and I Love Algeria. May the best team w
has any1 watched the egyptian national tv channel 2 yesterday? a fifa spokesman said they sent their own investigation team who decided the bus incident was fabricated and 100% fake!
ALGERIANS ASAULT 1500 EGYPTIANS IN ALGERIA!!!! LOTS OF IJURIES AND BURNS THE ARMY INTERFERED!!!!
Yusra , i agree with your point of view, any one could insult the other due to the heat of the game, mature people could take control of this , when immature were doing this then who to blame? the egyptian authaurity telling lies? not taking their responsabilties? is that how to welcome "players" and "guests" this is not in the Algerian tradition.. whole Egyptians have see how their team was welcomed in algeria. anyway i would love you all egyptians to watch this how Algerians made the Algero- egyptian flag together and you can see how the Egyptians responded on the video..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=msMQ1JGnwSI
I love all the arab nations NOT gouv....
???? ?????? ???? ? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ???????????? ??? ???? ??????? ????????? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ? ???
algerians people hate egypt and they are so jealous ...egyptains r dying in algeria and they would be killed if egupt won in sudan they held knives and firwork .actually i don't know what is the fifa waiting for ?
ALWAYS EGYPT IN THE TOP ALWAYS AND FOREVER .
to "from london"
you are right about what you say about education .but you forget Zwail,Sadat,Mahfoz,Magdy Yacoub ,they all and so many other are Egypt sympols.Egypt has so many qualified scholars but they don't find their chance to be known like whose what you know who learn the scince to the world.about the match if you don't see it i ask you to be more fair and let your mind telling you . About the algerians manar they all out of the arabian and islamic or christian behavior.It don't express the whole of algerians people .we want to value Egypt its real value in the world as it was ,and will still until the world end
Thanks for you and it's my congratulations from the world heart ,Egypt.
we won and that is your big problem .you didnt tought that algeria will win one day we jest prouvite.123 viva lalgerie
wach egypchien Algeria is the best chahata chahata ndarboukoum btlata hahahahahahahahha 1 2 3 viva l ALGERIE
i hate algria
?? ?? ?? ??????
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War
Besides Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, several other Arab states were also involved in this war, providing additional weapons and financing. Algeria sent a squadron each of MiG-21s and Su-7s to Egypt, which arrived at the front between October 9 and October 11. It also sent an armored brigade of nearly 200 tanks, the advance elements of which began to arrive on October 17
Now, can anyone tell me exactly how Egypt helped Algeria ?
just wait until the algerians come to egypt the egyptians will be looking bored, because these are not the real guests, the Iraqi people and the syrians are friends of the egyptians. I think algerians should be away of egypt because they do not want trouble. Egyptians are nice with every country including ALGERIA, INDIA
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