CAIRO: Tension continues to rise between Egyptian and Algerian football fans ahead of a Saturday showdown that could determine who is playing in next year’s World Cup in South Africa. A two goal win by Egypt would force a playoff at a neutral site, but with less than a week ahead of the match, both nations’ are gearing up and the world football governing body, FIFA, has warned the two countries against ugly incidents.

“We have been informed directly and via the media of some tensions leading up to this decisive day,” FIFA said in a letter sent to the football associations of both countries.

“In this regard, we feel it is timely to remind you that FIFA is clearly monitoring all the activities around this match day.

“FIFA reconfirms that the preliminary competition for the 2010 World Cup should end as it began, in the spirit of fair play with the necessary cooperation of all the parties.

“In this context, please note that the FIFA delegation will arrive one day earlier in Cairo, namely on Wednesday 11 November to help facilitate the necessary cooperation and dialogue required for such an important event.”

It may not be enough, as Egypt and Algeria are bitter rivals and media attacks have fueled angry exchanges and even online attacks from both sides.

Egypt has not played in a World Cup since 1990 and Algeria four years before that. For the Pharaohs to advance automatically, they need to win by three goals, but anything less than a two goal victory will see Algeria in South Africa next June.

Online, the war has been ongoing for weeks. An Algerian hacker, who called himself “KADER11000” allegedly infiltrated the websites of President Hosni Mubarak and the government-owned Al Ahram newspaper, causing major disruptions last month.

The Egyptian daily reported that the “devastating intrusion of the websites of the Egyptian Presidency and the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram was a legitimate act of retaliation” after Egyptian Internet pirates attacked an Algerian newspaper, Elshorouk Al Youmi, earlier in the week by bombarding the chat forum with too many comments after the publication had praised Algeria’s World Cup efforts.

Egypt and Algeria are in the same group vying for a berth in the world’s most prestigious football tournament. Their next match, on November 14, is key to each nation’s hopes of securing a spot in South African next summer. Egypt must win by at least two goals to force a playoff.

The Algerian hacker was able to get into the coding on the front page of the president’s website, modifying it to read: “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, I am KADER11000 Algerian hacker. I have successfully hacked the websites of the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram as a response to any violation of the rights of my country and Eshorouk newspaper.”

He added that it was his “gift” to Egypt after Egyptian hackers had attacked the Algerian newspaper. He claims to have successfully destroyed the server of the president’s website.

Before the Algerian hacker infiltrated the Egyptian websites, Egyptian Internet pirates launched a cyber “attack” on a chat forum of the Algerian publication over the newspapers unwavering support for their national football team. The Egyptians alleged “unprofessional” support for their rivals’ national squad, the newspaper reported in its Friday edition. The shear number of posts caused the forum to be temporarily suspended in order to liquidate the traffic.

In one of the comments on the Algerian newspaper’s site, an Egyptian wrote that the “Algerian team should be disqualified” from its World Cup run.

BM