World Cup qualifying is winding down. All the places will be set soon, with Euro qualifiers wrapping up this week. African qualifying should have finished yesterday, but the final spot out of five total for the continent is still up for grabs.
Algeria and Egypt met in Cairo on Saturday to settle that final spot. Algeria led the group by three points, and held a better goal differential. To win the group, Egypt would need to beat Algeria by three clear goals. A 1-0 win did them no good; it would send Algeria to the World Cup on better goal differential. There was one other possible scenario, of course: a two goal victory for Egypt would set up one final, winner-take-all playoff in Sudan on Wednesday.
So the teams took the field, and Egypt, in front of a spirited crowd at Cairo Int'l Stadium, got off to the dream start in taking a 1-0 lead in the 2nd minute through former Wigan striker Zaki. Algeria then held them off, valiantly, for the next 90 minutes, even creating (but blowing) a few chances of their own. And then in the 95th minute, 5 minutes deep into the allotted 6 minutes of injury time (the ref is surely not loved in the Maghreb today)...
Well...just watch for yourself:
There's going to be a lot to look forward to next summer. Here's hoping Cairo's buzzing about a first WC berth since 1990 when my wife and I get there in just about a month for our delayed honeymoon.
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