Question: Does patriotism still play a role in the World Cup?

The World Cup is an interesting tournament on many accounts; for one thing it involves football, the most popular sport on the planet (thus giving it a greater impact factor than say the Olympic Games) and then it is about national teams competing against each other making it symbolic of nationalism or patriotism. This is probably why some anthropologists, evolutionary psychologists and sociologists have argued that football has become a substitute to ancient war epics which helped males let off their testosterone charges and feel useful the best way they know how (i.e. by being agressive). In a world where wars don’t need so much blood and flesh anymore, football becomes a suitable battlefield for all sorts of conflicts: political, psychological, sociological, patriotic, nationalistic, religious even, you name it. Of course, philosophically, sport is meant to unify and help people transcend their tribal instincts by promoting noble traits such as fairplay, modesty, respect and endurance, but in reality and especially in hugely popular sports where lots of money is involved, the facts on the ground are often diametrically opposed to the philosophical ideal behind sport.

I was too young to be capable of any deep analysis of the 1982 World Cup performance of the Algerian national team, but it seems to me that

England vs. Algeria : the dreaded game

Dear oh dear! The worst case scenario has materialized following the first match defeat on the hands (or rather feet) of those Slovenians. Although our team did outplay their Slovenian counterparts in the first half, the Slovenians came back in the second half and delivered a footballistic crusade on the Algerian team’s side of the pitch: statistics had to favor them to score a goal as Chaouchi couldn’t hang on forever (if it weren’t for him, we’d have had to lump down at least 3 more goals). Now, qualifying for the next round would be more complicated, it’s very frustrating because the Greens have stupidly let an easy and perfectly feasible 3 precious points slip through their toes. I was initially relieved to see a significantly better performance by our team than the dismal way they have played in the friendly matches. However, after watching the other games and how other teams have played

Algeria vs. Slovenia, the key game

Nelson Mandela couldn’t attend the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 World Cup after the tragic death of his great-granddaughter, and he also missed the opening game (1-1) which opposed his country to Mexico. The South-African team had the honour to score the first goal of the competition, and it seems it wouldn’t need the referees’ help to qualify for the next round (the host country’s team has never been eliminated in the groups’ round).

So far and after five games, the French team proved once again that it is unable to score (0-0 against Uruguay); the Koreans burst the Greek bubble (a well deserved 2-0 preventing the Greek population from forgetting their financial crisis); and the talented but young Nigerians did well against Maradona‘s team (0-1) even if the latter didn’t give it their all.

Last warm-up match today against UAE

Our national football team is playing against the UAE team in Fürth, north of Nuremberg (Germany) this afternoon at 17:00 Algerian local time. The familiar and popular stars of the Fennecs such as Bougherra, Yahya and Matmour will be back on the pitch for this match and this will be the last chance for coach Saâdane to test the team before the World Cup kick-off which will be next week. More info and comments on the event can be found here. Apparently, Mbolhi will take (our national hero) Chaouchi‘s position at the goals and Mansouri will still play in midfield (next to Lahcen) despite his comical performance in the previous match against Ireland. Check out this superb shot by Mansouri (at around 3:50 minutes into the video), for a minute there, I thought it was David Beckham playing for us! It’s a miracle he missed the goals with a shot like that and the (irritating) commentator seems to have found it excellent too! (moumtaza men Yazid Mansouri! he screamed!). The video below summarizes the highlights of the previous match against Ireland:

Ireland vs. Algeria: World Cup warm-up match tonight

The ‘Desert Foxes‘ (Les Fennecs) arrived yesterday morning in Dublin where they will play their second World Cup warm-up match against the ‘Fur Foxes‘. The first one was against the Serbian ‘White Eagles’ and took place in the 5th of July stadium in Algiers on the 3rd March 2010. The match will take place in the RDS stadium in Dublin this evening. More info on the teams and where you can watch the match can be found in this post. Good luck to our national team! Maâk yal Khadra, Diri hala! Here’s one of my favorite supporters’ songs, feel free to attach your favorite supporters’ songs in the comments to encourage The (Magic) Greens for tonight’s match!:

One, Two, Three. Viva l’Algérie!

Post-publication edit:

Those of you who have not watched the match can do so on youtube via these links (10 parts): part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9 and part 1o

FIFA’s verdict against Egypt for pelting Algerian football team bus

Here’s the official statement which was made public on May 18th (emphasis added):

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Marcel Mathier, decided today, 18 May, in Zurich to impose a ban on the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) whereby the “A” representative team of Egypt will play the first two home matches of the preliminary competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ at a location at least 100 kilometres away from Cairo.

In addition, the EFA will have to pay a fine of CHF 100,000. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee took this decision after determining that the EFA had failed to

The 27th African Cup of Nations begins today

Angola hosts today and for 21 days the CAN competition. Algeria qualified for it and for the South African World Cup of this year after three long and exhausting qualification rounds. We still remember the last two games against Egypt in Cairo and Sudan, and the popular, media, cultural and politic reactions they caused.

The Algerian team members have been celebrated by the population and president Bouteflika as if they had won the WC. Their achievement was indeed one of the most important of last year, and the joy they brought to the Algerians (in Algeria and abroad) had no limits.
Algeria is now mobilised and living for its team and it looks like any other affairs and issues are postponed until the last game of Algeria in the WC.

The Fennecs prepared the competition in southern France. The preparation was unfortunately disturbed by the usual problems: Mehdi Lahcene’s joining or not the team, the bonuses and incentives, Puma’s black&white jerseys, and some important players’ injuries. And the Algerian newspapers didn’t help as they spread the rumours about Saadane’s resignation, Raouraoua’s conflict with the players, etc.

Who will the Egyptians be supporting in World Cup 2010?

This is a comment left by an Egyptian in the FIFA website, after the draw results were made public:

‘Best wishes for brothers in England , Slovenia and USA. Also good luck for Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa‘

Something isn’t quite right in this comment. I wonder what? I mean, I understand that as an Egyptian, he would naturally support Arab and African teams. But what on Earth do England, Slovenia and the USA have to do with Egypt? For information, here are the results of the draw with the teams supported by this Egyptian commentator in bold:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana,

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Interesting selection of teams that Egyptian will be supporting. I wonder if

Account from Cairo of a ‘special envoy’ from algerian newspaper El Watan

L’escalade de la haine des cinéastes égyptiens

The article is in French, but the main point of the author is that he was shocked that the entire egyptian capital was instantaneously engulfed in a frenzy of hatred, mascaraded as ‘patriotism’, following the football match against Algeria which Egypt lost after a national media campaign which literally promised a guaranteed win. The author claims he searched in vain for any voice of reason, from the intellectuals, artists and supposedly independent media tycoons, but they all joined in the hysteria of the disappointed masses. Egypt is in a deeper mess than anyone had ever suspected. Even the Egyptians are in denial. Here is a translated excerpt from the article:

‘Thirteen Algerian films were programmed (in the 33rd Cairo Film Festival), as well as a tribute to Rachedi followed by an official dinner at the Citadel. The atmosphere was quite normal and the proceedings were going ahead as planned before the two football games. Then the triumph of the Greens (the Algerian national football team) in Khartoum has suddenly brought all Egypt to the shores of a dangerous escalation of hatred. Without rhyme nor reason, the organizers of the film festival fell in the dull movement, turning the cinematographic event into a trap. Two (Algerian) filmmakers who were members of the jury, Belkacem Hadjadj and Lies Salem, stormed out slamming the door. The reporters sought a return flight to go back home (to Algeria). Films by Algerian filmmakers Rachid Bouchareb, Abdelkrim Bahloul, Bashir Derra, Said Ould Khelifa, Fatma Zohra Zamoum … have suddenly disappeared from the halls after the goal of Antar Yahia!‘

Al Jazeera documentary: Algeria vs Egypt – a football match or a battle?