Could A Soccer Match Spark the Next Mideast War? « Liveshots

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Could A Soccer Match Spark the Next Mideast War?

November 20, 2009 - 12:41 PM | by: Reena Ninan

It was supposed to be the tie-breaker soccer game between Algeria and Egypt, determining who would advance to next summer's World Cup in South Africa. In the end, the only thing broken were diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Egypt recalled its ambassador to Algeria on Thursday, accusing Algerian fans of attacking Egyptians during the soccer match in Khartoum on Wednesday. Egypt has threatened to quit the league for two years over the incident, according to some reports. The league is also looking into complaints that Egyptian fans pelted the Algerian team's bus with stones.

Algeria won the game 1-0, making it the only Arab country to qualify for the World Cup.

The first of three matches was won by Algeria. On Saturday a second match between the countries took place in Cairo. Egypt won that one, 2-0. That win meant the two countries were actually tied overall, since they had the same number of goals scored. So the two rivals met again for a tie-breaker match on Wednesday on the neutral ground of Sudan.

It's not the first time World Cup rivalries have gotten out of hand. Forty years ago the games sparked a conflict known as the Soccer War, a four-day battle fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Tension between the two countries--originally caused by immigration and demographic problems--erupted during the second North America qualifying round for the 1970 World Cup.‬‪ ‬‪ ‬‪

League officials hope history won't repeat itself. Still, tension continued to rise as demonstrators gathered to protest on Friday for a second day near the Algerian embassy in Cairo.

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ahmed hani

a-the Algerian terrorism towards the resident Egyptian workers and families in Algeria before,during and after the 2 matches.. b-the Algerians claimed a fake accident occured to the bus that was carrying their players before the 1st match... c-the Algerian media and newspaper are used to stimulate the anger of Algerian people against the Egyptians... d-the Algerian supports went to Sudan in prepare for the tie-breaking match..they weren't normal football supporters but criminal relased from jail (several withnesses and evidence proved that)..they stayed in Sudan for 2-3 days before the match buying hand weopons .. e-before and during the match the Egyptian players and supporters faced many threats from the Algerian ones.... f-after the match the Egyptian supporters were haunted by the Algerian supporters(criminals) and got their buses surrounded and attacked... g-WHERE IS THE FAIR PLAY??TO WHERE DOES SPORT GO??ah

November 23, 2009 at 4:17 PM

yasser zezo

what ever happened between two teams does not justify what happened from Algerian peoples in the Egyptian citizens in Algeria (attaching Egyptian citizens and crash many offices for Egyptian company like Orascom and Egypt air office ) while we as Egyptian could do the same in the Algerian companies shows the deference between Egypt and Algeria

November 23, 2009 at 10:32 AM

farid

You egyptians have plotted the whole thing, you have let your savage supporters assault our players who were supposed to be escorted from the airport to the hotel, at the contrary the fans were helped by your police and secret service, you won the game and played the playoff game in Sudan as you wanted and you lost, now what happened in the stadium stays in the stadium, what happened in SUDAN you scum bags was retaliation for what you have done in Egypt!!

November 23, 2009 at 8:31 AM

Moustafa

As always Algerian are savages and stupid people, they are talking about a rock thrown at an Algerian bus while we talk about thousands of Algerian criminals who came to Sudan with the intention of hurting thousands of Egyptian audiences and families, i think any stupid see which situation should be mentioned. and this is a country where government and people and criminals are all the same, they are all stupid, and we always had problems with the Algerian team every time, but this one is the greatest, because it shows how bad they are to attack other Arabian people , Israel people are respected than Algerian people, and i think if we were playing against Israel, and Egypt won 10-0, Israeli people would be sad but they would congratulate us, and without any problems. But what i can say?!!! Algerian are so bad , that if we say that Algerians are like animals, animals would not be happy for this description.

November 23, 2009 at 6:00 AM

Mahmoud

The only certified liars in the worls are the Egyptians. Just ask their Masters the Isarelis and the Amreicans. Look at the testimony of a Canadian (anglo-Saxon btw) who witnessed the Savagerie of the Egyptians during the Saturday game. An Egyptian would look at you in the face, and lie. An Imam swore to the contrary in front of me about something I personnally witnessed. Algerians are like their bretherens in the Gulf, and their Maghreb neigbors known to be straight shooters not cheap liar

November 23, 2009 at 4:50 AM

Amira Fawzi

EGYPTIANS DON'T NEED TO DEFEND THEIR SITUATION. WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE RIGHT YOU KNOW YOU ARE RIGHT. NO MEDIA, NO PEOPLE AND OF COURSE NO OTHER NATIONS(THAT SEE ALL ARABS ARE BARBARIANS NO MATTER WHAT WE DID) WILL CHANGE WHAT WE BELIEVE IN. WE DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN OURSELVES BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUS AND CLEAR BUT IT SEEMS THAT THE WESTERN SOCIETY LIKES MORE TO THINK OF US AS IDIOTS AND BARBARIANS WHO KILL AND MAY START A WAR BECAUSE OF A SOCCER MATCH!

November 22, 2009 at 11:35 AM

Analyze This

Dear Footballs Game : Where are you hiding ? At least you have enough awareness to be ashamed and hide ! That , I respect !

November 22, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Hany

Football hooliganism excists world wide, mainly in the UK, Germany, Holland, France and Italy, there have been many incidents worse than this so there is no point in westerners being patronizing! However the governments attitudes had been different from western governments, two friendly countries relations have been jeopardized by football hooligans! My only question is why did Algerian French youths destroy Marseille, France sinking six yachts? Does this tell our Proud Algerian brother anything? It is unfortunate but Algeria 's cycles of violence and hatred against each other in Algeria has produced very violent people, I truly feel sorry for France having to harbour them, at least we won't have to see the thugs in Egypt again! And I emphasize that I am not referring except to violent hooligans, Algeria is a nation deserving to be proud of many of it's sons and daughters and Olympic champions but should be ashamed of it's thugs who burnt marseille and should appologize to Francevv

November 22, 2009 at 10:42 AM

Egyptian Prince Charming

What happened cannot be comprehended by civilized cultures. Egyptian fans, political figures, singers, actors, women and children, found themselves being attacked by thousands of angry Algerian mobs, armed with knives and threatening to butcher them. Sudanese forces were unable to control the situation, and to avoid embarassment, are downplaying the incidents. It now seems, that what happened was an organized plot set to humiliate Egypt. Actually, I believe this was their Plan B gone wrong. Plan B was to sabotage the game in case Egypt won and calling for a re-match. However, Algeria won the game and the armed mob could not restrain themselves from attacking and humiliating the Egyptians. The current tensions have nothing to do with Egypt losing the game, they are all related to the incidents following the game.

November 22, 2009 at 10:14 AM

Egyptian Prince Charming

This is not about football. Algeria won the game, they deserved to go to the World Cup instead of Egypt. The game was over, Egyptians were naturally sad and depressed. What happened after the game, however, was inexplicable and ingnited the problem. Algerians in Sudan started ambushing the buses buses with the Egyptian fans on their way back to the airport. They were attacked with stones and knives without any reason or provocation. This is not about a football match!

November 22, 2009 at 9:47 AM

Sameh Rassan

What happened in the match between Egypt and Algeria established in the Sudan from the terrorism of the masses of Algeria and the instigation of the Algerian football federation event does not belong to football and inconsistent with the policy of fair play from FIFA and declared that the first thing that happened before the game to break into the Algerian public to pitch and what happened in the Algerian football players before the match and during the national anthems of both teams and terrorism suffered by the Egyptian public before and after the game in Sudan and Algeria, all this has had a clear impact on the outcome of the game

November 22, 2009 at 9:37 AM

Sameh Rassan

Actually it was not a football match but you can call it terrorism in Sudan from the barbarian public of algeria What happened in the match between Egypt and Algeria established in the Sudan from the terrorism of the masses of Algeria and the instigation of the Algerian football federation event does not belong to football and inconsistent with the policy of fair play from FIFA and declared that the first thing that happened before the game to break into the Algerian public to pitch and what happened in the Algerian football players before the match and during the national anthems of both teams and terrorism suffered by the Egyptian public before and after the game in Sudan and Algeria, all this has had a clear impact on the outcome of the game. Moreover, even the coach was terrorised he couldn't control the match because after one week he'll be in Algeria, so, how come that he can be fair. best regards.

November 22, 2009 at 9:33 AM

Analyze This

Yes , an individual in egypt did throw a rock on the algerian team bus , No denial , it is bad , it is wrong but it remains an individual spontaneous act , could happen in the USA , France , Germany , anywhere hoodlums exist . The truth also , is that the difference between what happened in Egypt and in Sudan is that in Sudan it was totally Algerian state sponsored , planned , funded and executed . It is Something unheard of before in the history of organized sports !

November 22, 2009 at 7:50 AM

Doaa Refaat

it was not about football, it was not about competition, it was down right animalistic, barbaric, and should not be accepted on any logical grounds.There was no deathes in Egypt during the first match as they said or accusing Egypt with it,so its about the fake media in Alegria,isnt a crime from their side to arrange for a conspiracy like this?!!! The Algerians were not satisfied with winning, it was very obvious that this is not about the match, it was NOT about the World Cup, it was simply about a grudge. How could fans be allowed into the stadium armed? How could they break into shops in Paris and other cities around the world? Egyptian buses left the stadium 2 hours before the Algerian buses where suppose to leave, but the Algerians went out after the Egyptians as soon as the game was over anyway. Can anyone tell me where is the FIFA???,doesnt th FIFA witnessed anything of what happened there,i doubt... have a look on this video please http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLaiM9B6g42M&h=757f0ffe2ccb096ede91390903c818f0

November 22, 2009 at 7:41 AM

FOOTBALL's GAME

Responding to Analyze this and TO ALL EGYPTIANS who cannot TOLERATE the truth and can only SEE ONE SIDE!!! Yes there was a big tension surrounding this game, Algerians could not accept their team players being attacked in Egypty, Egyptians could not and unfortunately still going on about how their fans were mistreated, despite the Soundanese government officially confirmed that no report of any major injuries on Egyptians' side as wrongly reported.... Yes Football fans deserve to watch-support their team without being subjected to any kind of violence but must admit that this kind of things do happen even in the most civilised countries or they think they are. To sum up "what you don't want to happen to you don't wish or let it happen to other"...I hope this message is clear if not understood that here is another one " you hit me and cried and then you went before me a complained"

November 22, 2009 at 6:45 AM

Bero

Well, you simplify the issue to be a match result. Don't let the auther insult your smartness,it's way far from this.It's political matter under the cover of sport.The Algerian government succeeded to spreadout rumors about death cases in Cairo,the poor algerians believed and they acted the way they were planned to do.I'm exaggerating!!,why the algerian air force tranfered 3000 criminals to Sudan?!.Where are the algerian corpse?.FIFA hid them?!!!Give me a break

November 22, 2009 at 5:33 AM

Analyze This !

I am half american / half egyptian . First of all , if there were deaths in cairo in the first game , where are the coffins , where are the pictures where ( to qoute CSI) is the evidence; even the algerian ambassador denied it . I went to the tie breaker game in Sudan ( I have been to Giants , Redskins , Cowboys and even to BArcelona games ) . At any game there are always some hoodlums causing trouble , no big deal . But in Sudan it was completely different , it was State sponsored , financed , planned and executed warfare ! It started 4 days before when they took 5000 egyptians in Algeria as hostages . They were surrounded , beaten and had Cocktail bombs thrown at the for DAYS !!!! The algerian government refused to allow charters to take them home , and wouldnt allow Egypt Air to increase its flights or to even send bigger planes in their regularly scheduled flights to land there ! Then they sent 10,000 thugs 3 days BEFORE the game to Sudan in Algerian Air Force Jets ! Then they studied the sudan streets and hotels and routes to the airport . During and after the game they were wielding knives to threaten the players and fans , even threatening the Egyptian players and officials with slashing their throats ! After the game which they won , you would think that after losing it would be the egyptians who would be frustrated ? On the contrary every single Egyptian bus was attacked and it was amazing how they always managed to find all the egyptians no matter where they hid ! They had small cars roaming the dark streets in a hit run scheme . The Sudan army actually had to step in with machine guns and tear gas bombs to rescue us including women and chidren from knife and sword wielding algerians ! As mind bogglingly ridiculous as it seems , yet it is all true ! They held those hostages in Algeria before the game for fear of retaliation ! On the other hand , there was not a single outburst from any Egyptian , simply because all who went were those who could afford it ! The obvious question here is why ? They have a very special hatred for France( Look at all the fires and riots they start there , lately burning 8 Yachts in Marseille ) and Egypt ! France because they occupied them a long time ago and they simply refuse to go on with their lives and become prosperous like Germany , Japan , Vietnam or anybody else on the planet . Egypt , because of its history and status in the arab world . These 2 countries represent major historical complexes to them .

November 22, 2009 at 4:51 AM

Richard

Alan pls The Middle East is not a continent. Therefore it is possible for an African Country to be in the Middle East. Egypt is geographically in the middle east. And Algeria although it is a little far off is considered middle eastern because of the Arabic language an culture they share.

November 22, 2009 at 2:53 AM

Algerian and proud of

well, when the Algerian's team played in cairo (bloody city) on nov 14t 09, the egyptian's fan rocked and smashed the bus where the algeria team were transported from the airport to the hotel and injured 4 players and all the international media recorded it (french canal plus,tv 5 etc...) and thousands were seriously injured and even death of some algerian fan, we didnt say anything even tho we went ahead and played the game with injured players, the baberians egyptian were so violant and agressive, after all they were ashamd how the african champion got humilated by algeria which we are always and forever their dark side

November 21, 2009 at 11:12 PM

Prudence

Wow what a bunch a of moronic savages to fight over a competitive sport.Stupidity truly does start wars.

November 21, 2009 at 10:54 PM

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