Sudanese hosts braced for crunch Algeria-Egypt tie

Sudan braced for an influx of Algerian and Egyptian fans on Monday ahead of this week’s crunch World Cup qualification play-off amid mounting fears of trouble between the rival supporters.

Police deployed in numbers when the two squads flew in to Khartoum on Sunday and there was no repetition of the stone-throwing by Egyptian fans which left three Algerian players injured when they arrived ahead of Saturday’s game in Cairo.

But outbreaks of violence in Algeria and among the Algerian community in France following the 2-0 Egyptian victory in that match which forced Wednesday’s neutral-venue play-off here ratcheted up the security worries.

The Sudanese Football Federation insisted that no special steps were being taken for the game at a 40,000 seat stadium in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman.

“Security measures will be in place as for any other international fixture,” a Federation official told AFP.

But the Khartoum police were due to unveil a security plan later in the day.

State-owned flag-carrier Air Algerie unveiled plans on Sunday to fly 10,000 Algerian fans to Sudan for the game.

Thirty special flights were being laid on from Algiers with fans being charged around 200 dollars for a return ticket, a quarter of the usual fare, the official APS news agency reported.

Air Algerie executive chairman Abdelouahid Bouabdallah said that both the match tickets and the Sudanese entry visas would be free for the lucky fans who secured places on the special flights.

The Algerian capital saw anti-Egyptian disturbances as the tickets went on sale at the airline’s offices.

Fans broke through the metal shutters of Egypt Air’s nearby offices and proceeded to ransack them, an AFP journalist said.

The offices of mobile telephone company Djeezy, part of the Egyptian telecommunications group Orascom, were also ransacked, the website of the El Watan daily reported.

The company also said one of its employees was assaulted at Algiers airport.

In France, there were disturbances in the cities of Grenoble, Lyon and Marseille.

The Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador on Monday to seek increased security for its nationals in Algeria.

Cairo wants “assurances that the Algerian authorities are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of Egyptian nationals in Algeria,” deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs Abdel Rahman Salah told reporters.

Algiers had sought similar assurances from Cairo after its players were injured when stones were thrown at their bus as they being driven from the airport to the team hotel last week.

Despite that appeal, 20 Algerians were among 32 people injured in clashes after Saturday’s game.

Egypt’s victory in that match left the two teams tied on 13 points with the same goal difference forcing Wednesday’s play-off.

The North African rivals have a history of bad blood, with riots breaking out after Egypt defeated Algeria in a 1989 match in Cairo.

Algeria player Lakhdar Belloumi was tried in absentia and sentenced to prison in Egypt for allegedly seriously injuring the Egyptian team doctor with a bottle after that match.

Egypt last qualified for the World Cup in 1990, and Algeria in 1986.