November 20, 2009

Reasons why the Israeli football (soccer) team shouldn't play its neighbours

If two Arab countries can produce this much anger towards each other..

"Riot police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, quelled a violent demonstration near the Algerian embassy in the early hours of Friday. Egyptian protesters reportedly hurled firebombs at police protecting the embassy and overturned a police van. Egypt's Interior Ministry said 35 people were injured"

..over a game of football

"The clashes stem from Egypt's defeat by Algeria in a World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday, securing Algeria the last African place for next year's finals."

..What would happen if Israel was playing?

OK, ok, so Londonstani knows there's bad blood between Egypt and Algeria... but hey, they've never fought a war - let alone three.

"The statement by Egypt's Football Federation added: "Egyptian fans, officials and players put their lives at risk before and after the game, under threat from weapons, knives, swords and flares".

"We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us," university student Amr Higazi told Agence France Presse."

I mean seriously, this sounds like its turning to a mid sized diplomatic incident between Algeria, Egypt and then Sudan, when all they did was host!?