Black Saturday

I have not been active on my blog for sometime, ever since the revolution broke out in my country of Egypt I seem to have lost my footballing appetite. Yesterday was a disastrous day for Egyptian Sport in general and Football in particular. Thousands of Zamalek fans invaded the pitch with minutes to spare during their game against Al Afreeky (Club Africa) of Tunisia. Zamalek where on their way to getting knocked out and then all hell broke loose...

Check the video below...There are some graphic scenes

I am lost for words to describe this chaos. In my opinion this was no ordinary mob of angry fans, but I'm not going to talk about politics here as I hope this blog continues to remain 100 percent sports related (with the odd movie here and there). However here is food for thought:

In my 30 years of watching football in Egypt I have never seen such scenes not even in the most violent of Cairo derbies. In my experience Egyptian fans when they start getting angry or feel injustice proceed to do the following:

Step 1- Hurl vocal abuse towards the referee

Step 2- Start throwing objects from stones to water bottles to anything they can get their hands on onto the pitch

Step 3- Possibly engage with opposition fans by verbal abuse and or throwing stuff at them too

Step 4- Start destroying their surrounding from chairs and such and possibly start using these objects as projectiles to hurl at opposition players and fans

Step5 - The might try to invade the pith but they usually are unable to..

I have never seen fans in this country skip all these steps and proceed to step 5 and succeed with out barriers to stop them. Not only that, they reached step 5 armed with weapons and clubs. Made me feel they were ready for this. I had never seen prior to yesterday in Egypt:

1- Fans Assault their own players

2- Fans assault their club manager and staff

3- Sections of the Angry mob proceed to protect other team players and the referee??

4- Fans attack their own fans in the stadium

More food for though:

Where was the stadium security?

Why was it so easy to invade the pitch? The security gates were easily opened during the game, how?

Why did this not happen in the Ahly game vs Supersport, or the Ismailly game were the stadium was packed. Playing a Tunisian team is much more high profile I guess.

Why was there no security to check that people had nothing on them? That's ABC stadium security

Whats the whole thing bout fans coming to stadium at 10am (game was at 6pm) and they refused to leave ?

Some one should be held accountable for allowing this invasion and permitting fans to enter the stadium with such weapons. There is enough video evidence to make hundreds of arrests. It should be examined carefully. Athletes were assaulted, sportsmen whose job is to entertain were beaten up and made to fear for their life. This is UNACCEPTABLE! My condolences and sincerest apologies go out to our Tunisian brothers

There had to be some footballing factors as well. Ibrahim Hassan's comments prior to the game in response to some Tunisian fans invading the pitch with Egypt/Tunisia flags in the first leg had to insight many fans. He more or less suggested that fans should come onto the pitch in Egypt. However I've heard the recording and the accusation that this was the real cause seems shady at best, although I truly despise this guy for his attitude and ignorant comments.

The referee overturning an injury time goal could have been a real factor, however there were 3 minutes left to go, so the game was not over yet...how about you wait till it ends then go down?

Again how was it that easy to get onto the pitch...

In my opinion Zamalek will be crucified for the lack of security for this game and deservedly so. I would think 5years ban from African competition would be fair. If Zamalek felt there was a security risk then the game should have never happened. I think the impact over all will be huge on football in Egypt. Probably Ahly will not be able to continue playing in this competition. Who would want to play in Cairo stadium again and frankly who could blame them? If the police can't handle stadium security at the moment and I don't blame them, football should be stopped for the foreseeable future.

People will say clubs will go bankrupt...I say let them go bankrupt, the footballing industry is one of the most shady and corrupt organizations in the country and public resources are thrown down the drain everyday.

To Zamalek fans not involved in these appalling scenes. You should be proud of your players who stood side by side with their Tunisian brothers and tried to protect them. Some even took blows for them. Even the Hassan brothers (who I despise) deserve credit for their efforts in trying to protect Tunisian players. Also be proud of your fans who tried to protect both.

To all the thugs that caused these scenes. I call on the army and the police to hunt you down. Your faces are all over TV. You should be prosecuted and given the maximum punishment because I am ashamed to be affiliated with you in any shape or form.

To Tunis and Tunisians. The scenes I saw yesterday made me angry and disgusted so I can only imagine how it made you feel. I can apologize for all Egyptians from here to eternity and it would not be enough. Our deepest sorrow and condolences go out to the players and their families for what they had to go through. Our promise goes out to all of Tunisia that we will find those who were responsible and will bring them to justice.

Egypt and Tunisia are forever bound in revolution. You had been an inspiration to our country in it's quest for freedom. What has been bound in blood cannot be broken by the mere actions of a few who would aim to brake this feeling of solidarity.

Please forgive us Tunisia

CAN 2010: Group D

Yesterday saw round 2 concluded with Tunisia taking on Gabon and Cameroon taking on Zambia.

Tunisia vs Gabon:

The first game was a lack luster event and seeing Tunisia play you wonder how the mighty have fallen. They are poor and then you see their coach talking and you know why. El Benzarty is very poor and seeing his post game interviews really amused me. The man describes another match. He talked about a disallowed goal that never was and penalties not given although the one real penalty should have been given for a foul on Hull City's Cousin. For some reasons he thought the referee was harsh on them and so did the commentator EL Shawalay. Frankly the ref was probably the best thing in the game. On the other hand I was very impressed by Gabon. I didn't get to see them play Cameroon but they looked very dangerous yesterday and could cause trouble for many teams if they qualify.

Cameroon vs Zambia:

Where to begin. Frankly Rigobert Song put on an appalling display. I don't think he could have played any worse if Zambia had payed him. He gifted Zambia the first goal by heading into his own goal only for Kameni to barely save it but Malenga had an easy tap in a wide open goal. Song was then too lazy to chase a long ball which ended up with Kameni conceding a penalty as he rushed to cover Song's laziness. I have not seen this much bad defending since Titus Bramble was at Newcastle. Paul Le Guen was right to drop him in qualification and I think he should be dropped now if Cameroon have any chance of progressing. How Mr. Le Guen picked him ahead of Spurs Central Defender Bassong is baffling to me.

Zambia's keeper Kennedy Mweene had a role to play too. He gifted Cameroon a way back into the game when all seemed lost. He failed to hold on to a clearance/cross from Geremi who was trying to keep the ball in play. It ended up in the back of the net. After that the game turned over it's head and it was goals galore with Samuel Eto'o then giving Cameroon the lead and Idrissou to seal the win late on after Christopher Katongo had equalized from the spot. Cameroon didn't impress but playing against 12 men (Song was playing for Zambia) they got the job done like true veterans. A clash with Egypt in the quarters seems to be on the cards and it promises to be a cracker.

As It stands Gabon lead the group with points, Cameroon on 3, Tunisia with 2 and Zambia with 1.

Coming Up:

Final games in group A with anyone able to qualify with a win. Angola take on Algeria and Mali take on Malawi. I'm hoping Flavio and co can make it through. Games are played at the same time 16:00 GMT, 18:00 CLT

Road To South Africa 2010

It's crunch time in World Cup Qualifications. Come the end of November 18th all nations to be present in next year's African World Cup will be determined. As a result I thought of discussing each continent and It's qualification possibilities in a series of articles.

AFRICA

Two teams have already qualified with a round to spare, Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire. For the rest of the Continent it's do or die, not only for World Qualification but also for CAN 2010 in Angola next January.

Group A

Cameroon lead the group by 10 points, 1 point ahead of Gabon with both teams travelling to Morocco and Togo respectively. Cameroon need a win to insure qualification while Gabon need to win and hope the Lions fail to win at Morocco. What makes this more interesting is the fact that both Togo and Morocco need a win to clinch the final qualification spot to the African Cup of Nations next year(Top 3 teams qualify), with Togo needing a win to make sure of that regardless of the other result. Cameroon are back to their winning ways under the guidance of Paul Le Guen and have made a remarkable come back under new captain Samuel Eto'o with 3 wins in a row (twice against Gabon and once versus Togo) to put themselves in pole position.

Manga's Prediction: Cameroon to South Africa, Gabon and Togo to Angola

Group B

Surprisingly Tunisia are clear favorites to qualify from this group. They are 2 points ahead of Nigeria thanks to a remarkable 2-2 draw away to the Super Eagles. Nigeria face failure to qualify for the second year running, a disaster by their standards. A win against Mozambique away from home would ensure the Carthage Eagles of Qualification. A draw with Nigeria failing to beat Kenya in Nairobi would lead to the same result. However if Tunisia fail to win and Nigeria beat Kenya the World Cup Qualification spot would go to Nigeria on Goal Difference.

Nigeria's predicament came via a 0-0 away draw with Mozambique sparking speculation that Tunisia's trip there maybe more difficult than it seems.

Similar to Group A both teams have a fight on their hands as Kenya and Mozambique still have real chances of making it to the Nations Cup with Mozambique ahead by 1 point.

Manga's Prediction: Tunisia to South Africa, Nigeria and Mozambique to Angola

Group C

Sadly for me Algeria lead this group by 3 clear points from top seed seed Egypt. Algeria has had a great run in the campaign having not lost any games and accumulating 4 wins that included to wins against Zambia and a 3-1 thrashing of African Champions Egypt in Algeria. Their only negative point came at the start of their campaign with a 0-0 draw away to Rwanda. Egypt seemed dead and buried after 3 rounds and the encounter versus Algeria in Cairo would have been pointless had Egypt not won two strongly contested 1-0 away wins versus Rwanda and Zambia respectively a feat Egypt had not achieved in god knows how long. This group comes with a twist. Egypt needs to beat Algeria by 3 clear goals to ensure automatic qualification, if they manage to win by only 2 goals a one legged play-off game on neutral ground on the 18th of November will have to be played to decide who qualifies to South Africa since all other tie breaking criteria between the teams would be equal . Any other result or an Egypt win by just 1 goal would hand qualification to Algeria for the first time in 24years. I really can't see Egypt beating Algeria twice in 4 days so I feel our best chance is not to go to a decider. The job must be completed in Cairo. Egypt's task is daunting yet not impossible and the 6 time African Champions need to show what they are truly made of if they are to qualify.

Manga's Prediction: Algeria (by numbers and probability) to South Africa, Egypt and Zambia to Angola