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Canwest News Service
The truly nuttiest thing in the sports world today will take place in Khartoum, Sudan. There the Algerian and Egyptian soccer teams will fight it out, the winner advancing to the World Cup next year in South Africa.
Egypt beat Algeria last weekend, leaving them tied in every critical category in their qualifying group. So FIFA arranged today's playoff match at a neutral site: Sudan.
Oh, it's a big deal. Egypt's last World Cup appearance was 1990, Algeria's 1986. And while most Canucks fans will never get as far as Calgary for a game, 48 flights filled with Algerian fans and 18 from Egypt landed in the last couple of days, with thousands more expected to arrive from neighbouring Egypt by road.
The Sudan is taking this seriously. They probably could have done without the hassle of having to deploy 15,000 police officers — yes, you read that correctly — inside the stadium. That stadium, which normally seats 41,000, will only fill to 35,000 today, a way for the authorities to keep the two sides of supporters apart.
Oh, it's needed. Last week, three Algerian players were hurt when Egyptian morons stoned the team bus — yes, you read that correctly too. As a result, it's being called "the mother of all football matches . . .the playoff from hell."
And how's this for history. Writes the Daily Telegraph's Ian Chadband: "Algeria versus Egypt was already one of the game's most bitter national rivalries, a north African feud nurtured over more than a generation by lurid tales of riots and bust-ups, all headed by the 1989 qualifier which ended with the Algerian star Lakhdar Belloumi supposedly shoving a glass in the face of the Egyptian team doctor, who lost an eye."
And you thought you hated the Flames.
– Yes, More Wacky Soccer
That noisy vuvuzela trumpet that the South African fans love to toot? Some teams want it banned in advance of the World Cup. Says Japan defender Tulio: "You can't hear what your teammates are saying from two metres away." . . . Scotland failed to qualify and fired manager George Burley. His nephew Craig Burley, the former Scotland striker, said some of the players were "too thick" to understand his uncle . . . More World Cup previews on page A43.
