Frenzied, chanting crowds greeted Algeria and Egypt’s soccer teams as they arrived in Sudan on Sunday to battle for Africa’s last qualifying place in the 2010 World Cup finals.
After a last minute equalizer from Egypt on Saturday night, the teams will play a decider tomorrow in Khartoum for the chance to play in South Africa next year.
Saturday’s last-gasp goal in Cairo left the nations tied on points, goal difference, goals scored and head-to-head record and requiring a single playoff match.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Sudan was chosen as the neutral venue for the match after FIFA made a draw on Wednesday with Egypt’s choice of neighboring Sudan being selected instead of Algeria’s preferred choice Tunisia.
Thousands of Egyptian laborers working in Sudan will help fill the stadium while Algerian flags began to appear on Sudanese cars throughout the capital.
“The greens all the way!” said Sudanese Khidr Osman, who was carrying an Algerian flag. He was joined by dozens of young Sudanese.
Egypt has a long and mixed history with Sudan of colonial rule as well as friendship but soccer remains a shared passion.
“When Sudan was playing Chad in Egypt, they weren’t supporting us,” Osman said.
“I’m with the Egyptians because they chose us to host this,” said businessman Mohamed Amin.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters held a rally on Sunday in Algiers in support of their national team, which degenerated into attacks on Egyptian businesses.
The rally in began with fans chanting “One, two, three, Go Algeria!” as they thronged Air Algeria offices trying to get tickets to travel to Sudan for the match in Khartoum.
But it later descended into violence when fans broke through the metal shutters to smash the window and ransack the offices of Egypt Air, a journalist said.
The offices of mobile telephone company Djeezy, part of the Egyptian telecommunications group Orascom, was also ransacked, the Web site of the El Watan daily reported.
Twenty Algerians were injured in clashes in and around Cairo after Saturday’s match, Egyptian police said.
Egyptian and Algerian fans have a long history of violence.
■GHANA WIN IN ACCRA
AP, ACCRA
Matthew Amoah and Anthony Annan scored a goal each as Ghana twice rallied from a goal down to draw 2-2 with Mali in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday in Accra.
Ghana had already sealed its place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa after winning its opening four group games, but still fielded a full strength team.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
RSS