Egypt falls to Algeria in World Cup qualifying match

Ahmed Ibrahim
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-06-12

Egypt's Amr Zaki (C) vies for the ball with Algeria's Yazid Mansouri (R) during their 2010 World Cup African zone Group C qualifying football match in Blida, Algeria on June 7. Algeria won the match 3-1. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

Algeria achieved a valuable win in their World Cup qualifying match over African champion Egypt in the Algerian city of Blida. Forty thousand spectators attended the match and 5,000 policemen were stationed inside and outside the stadium to maintain security and safety due to a history of highly charged meetings between the two teams.

Egypt’s Amr Zaki was given a yellow card in the 30th minute. In the 34th minute, Mohammed Abu Trika, star of the Egyptian Al-Ahly team, shot the ball with a left foot kick that hit the back of the net. Play was then confined to the centre of the field, with the first half ending with no goals for either side.

In the second half, Algeria almost made its first goal in the 46th minute, but defender Ahmed Fathy deflected the shot. In the 51st minute, Antar Yahia, a professional player in Germany, received a warning after interfering with Amr Zaki, who is a striker for the English team Wigan Athletic. Nadir Belhadj also received a warning in the 57th minute.

In the 58th minute, Karim Matmour, a striker in Germany, went deep into the other half of the field and hit the ball with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area. The ball landed to the left of Al-Hadari and Algeria moved ahead by one goal.

In the 63rd minute, Algeria scored its second goal as Nadir Belhadj kicked the ball to the head of Abdelkader Ghezzal, a striker for the Italian team Siena, who placed it into the net easily.

Rafik Zoheir Djebbour scored Algeria’s third goal in the 76th minute. After that, Mohammed Abu Trika shot a ball in the 84th minute that was caught by the Algerian goalkeeper before scoring the only goal for the Egyptian national team in the 86th minute.

In another match within the same group, Zambia beat Rwanda (1-0). After two matches for each team in the third group the standings have Algeria in first place with four points (goal difference two); Zambia in second place with four points (goal difference one); Rwanda in third place with one point (goal difference one); and Egypt in last place with one point (goal difference two).

The team that finishes in first place qualifies to play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Source: Al-Shorfa Website Correspondent

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