CAIRO: The flags are out, the people are ready. Cars roam Egypt’s streets, drums banging and fans leaning out windows, face painted the colors of the Egyptian flag, chanting “Egypt, Egypt, Egypt.” The match is tonight and Egyptians are ready. So are the Algerians. Here in Cairo, scores of Algerians line the street in front of their embassy, clad in the green and white of their country. Patriotism is high.

Egyptians are hoping to return to the World Cup finals since 1990, while Algerian fans are hopeful of a chance at football’s most prestigious trophy for the first time since 1986. Cafes are lined with fans watching patriotic songs and listening to the commentary ahead of both nation’s most important football match in decades.

“Go Egypt, we will win and show Algeria who is the ruler of football in Africa,” said Ibrahim, while waiving a massive Egyptian flag just around the corner from the Algerian Embassy as streams of cars pass by chanting anti-Algerian sayings, much to the consternation of the rows of riot police ready for any possible altercation.

There already have been violence between Egyptians and Algerians. On Monday in the Algerian capital, youth attacked and trashed Egypt Air’s local office, two days after Egypt beat Algeria to force a playoff on Wednesday in Sudan in a winner-take-all match for the World Cup Finals in South Africa next year.

Although no injuries have been reported, it highlights the ongoing emotional highs both nations are feeling ahead of Wednesday match. Algerian supporters smashed the windows and broke down doors at the Egyptian national airlines’ office, then set fire to the office furniture, reports said.

As firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the flames, Algerian youth continued to chant slogans in support of their national team. The airline’s office has remained closed due to security fears.

The Algerians said they were angry that their players and fans were attacked in Egypt by local fans ahead of last Saturday’s match in Cairo. According to FIFA – football’s world governing body – Egyptian fans attacked the Algerian team bus on Friday with stones, injuring three players.

Since Saturday’s match, at least one Algerian player, midfielder Khaled Lemmouchia, has said FIFA should have canceled the match after the incident.

FIFA warned Egypt over a security breakdown ahead of Saturday’s match and is reviewing reports over the incident that injured the players. An Algerian newspaper, despite denials by the Algerian Ambassador to Cairo, reported that Algerian fans were injured following the match. Tensions are still high.

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 month by bombarding the chat forum with too many comments after the publication had praised Algeria’s World Cup efforts.

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.

What will happen after the match in Cairo is yet to be seen, but rarely have Egyptians come together in support of something Egyptian like they have in the country’s run toward South Africa.

BM

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