Non c'è bisogno di scomodare Saddam Hussein per definirla "la mother of all the play-offs, "the game of games. If contenders - tonight in Khartoum - the passport to the World Cup in South Africa are Egypt and Algeria, the strong tones, the metaphors of the battlefield, they're everyone. war without the quotes in the last hour is raging between the two communities, not only in Algiers and Cairo but also in Europe, with riots, stone-throwing, fires, hunting the enemy dead and wounded, raising fears that the ninety minutes of today can explode in a genuine jihad between "brothers knives that do not love each other despite speaking the same language, profess the same faith and do both part of the Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Conference and the African Union. The one between" pharaohs " and "green" history is full of resentment and hostility. In politics as in economics. And, of course, in football.
They already were both in the same qualifying group had created quite a few alarms. But if FIFA had promptly wash your hands with a "we can not drive the draw." True or false, did it come to that cursed or blessed - obviously depends on your point of view - on Saturday in Cairo, Egypt in which the extra full-time at 93 ', scored the goal of 2 to 0 that would draw in all and for all accounts in the standings with the league leaders Algeria. Hence the need for a "fair", an additional match to be played on neutral ground to determine who between the two countries will be part of the lot of the 32 teams that will contest the World Cup football.
Khartoum, then. Or better Omdurman, the twin city of the Sudanese capital on the other side of the Nile. Sudan to host this game would have gladly done without. Khartoum was fine with the Egyptians, but the Algerians would have preferred that Tunis. But as in the palaces of the Cairo football matters most of Algiers, made himself as calling the "Pharaohs". Burning Eve, then. With physical violence and invective. In Cairo, Algiers, but also in the banlieues of Paris and Marseille. The Football Association of Algiers has accused the Egyptian of inciting attacks on the Algerian bus in Cairo after the 2-0, which led the assault in retaliation against a subsidiary of the Egyptian Orascom Algiers. The same branch has called back its 25 employees Egyptians, just as you would in view of the conflict. Naguib Sawiris, Orascom magnate, has requested a postponement of the game unheeded. Newspapers and television have made their worst with titles that have more fire to the minds and exchange of cross-accusations about who started the violence.
is why the Sudanese capital is under siege. The 41 thousand seats of the stadium have been reduced to 35 thousand for safety reasons. About 15 thousand police officers were put in place by local authorities to control public order. But I'm only 18 000 seats reserved for supporters arrived from Egypt e Algeria con 40 voli supplementari dal primo, ed aerei anche militari dal secondo. I restanti spettatori - che fin da domenica hanno fatto la fila per conquistarsi un biglietto - sono anch'essi divisi tra i due campi, tanto che vi sarebbero anche già stati i primi scontri.
Certo è che molti tifosi già giunti in Sudan si sentono con il coltello fra i denti, visto che anche ieri la tensione, invece di diminuire come inutilmente auspicato da più parti, è sembrata aumentare. Quel poco che resta per fortuna sa ancora di sport: bandiere che sventolano e gruppi di tifosi che urlano slogan. Minoranze, però.
Chi la spunterà? Difficile dirlo. Il difensore algerino Bougherra usa toni bellicosi: "In campo neutral, we will show them who the real men. "Thank goodness that at least the Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata, try to tone down the rhetoric:" It's a game where we have fifty percent of the possibilities. In any case it is only a football match not a war. "We hope this is so.
From Repubblica.it
And in this strange, strange country that happens we need to close all schools for a day of the capital, stopping the work of public offices to 13 and, apparently, to declare a curfew-like state for a playoff football in view of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Khartoum day is filled with Algerian flags, taxi , bus, balconies, people on the street. The Egyptians, neighbors, does not show in the capital despite a community are numerous, the order of tens of thousands. The game
succeed we watch on TV, given the strict prohibitions of moving just to go to a bar (obviously for security reasons), but I must say that it would be a show to be quite unique to the stadium. And today for Khartoum were still green and white flags of Algeria to dominate any road, and wherever you were revolved Algerian fans to greet his finger and raised his face to sleep for a night spent wandering around the city. The only Egyptians we met were in a restaurant (Egyptian, of course) ben protetti da diverse decine di poliziotti in assetto antisommossa. Il Sudan Tribune , un giornale locale in lingua inglese, addirittura ha titolato "Egypt dispatching troops to evacuate soccer fans in Sudan".
Due cose sono certe. Innanzitutto complimenti al Sudan che ha evitato che la partita diventasse una guerriglia, garantendo sicurezza e prevenendo ogni scontro (che poi vorrei dire...35.000 tifosi e 15.000 poliziotti...). E poi dico, ma hanno già problemi che bastano per 2 milleni qui in Sudan, ma sta partita non la potevano fare su un isoletta del Pacifico?
(nel video fate caso al pubblico...e alla polizia a sidelines!)
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