The cradle of ancient civilisation versus the greatest plunderer of ancient civilisations in history. Colony versus colonial master. Centuries of mutual enmity, played out on African soil.

A third chance for Egypt to right some historical wrongs through football, after losing 4-0 in a friendly in Cairo in 1986 and 1-0 at Italia 90 in Cagliari.

Instead it’s Algeria that is playing England in Cape Town on June 18 and after the way they played against Egypt overnight in the African Nations Cup (CAN) it’s abundantly clear the best team is not going to South Africa.



The match finished 4-0 to the Pharoahs, the second and third goals from Mohamed Zidan and Mohamed Abdelshafi respectively ones to savour for their class and technical excellence. A woeful and ill-disciplined Fennecs finished the game with eight men.

So what, exactly, is Egypt’s problem with qualifying for the World Cup?

If Egypt defeat Ghana in the CAN final on 31 January in Luanda, they will have won three African cups in a row to add to the four they already have from 1957, 1959, 1986 and 1998.

Egypt was, in my opinion, the most exciting team at last year’s Confederations Cup in South Africa, and defeated world champions Italy and very nearly claimed the scalp of Brazil.

After I proclaimed them football’s new kings of cool, they then went out and they got whipped by the Yanks, of all the useless football teams in the world, 3-0, in so doing bowing out of the tournament when they had a free pass to play in the semi-finals.

USA had the onerous task of beating Egypt by three goals and relying on Brazil to defeat Italy by three. Both eventuated.

Egypt has smashed Nigeria, Cameroon and now Algeria, all 2010 World Cup nations, in the CAN and done so almost exclusively with no-name players getting around in the Egyptian league.

Yet since World Cups began in 1930 they have only appeared in the World Cup twice and have failed to win a single match.

In a relatively easy qualifying group (Zambia, Rwanda and Algeria), all they had to do to book their passage for South Africa was defeat sworn enemies Algeria away in a playoff in Khartoum, yet this free scoring XI of football artists couldn’t put a score on the board and got the wind knocked out of their sails by an Antar Yahia pile-driver. Like at the Confederations Cup, they saved their most insipid performance for when it really mattered.

No, the Pharaohs won’t be playing in South Africa, which is a loss for the World Cup, the cause of African football and football fans everywhere but one for which only they can accept full responsibility.

It is their brittle mental strength and not any shortcomings in their football that has brought them undone.

Fortunately for the world, however, Fabio Capello’s England had the good sense to book a friendly against them in London on March 3.

It won’t be South Africa 2010, just another meaningless hit out, but Egypt has shown it turns on the magic when there’s no pressure at all.

And, because of that, if I were Capello I’d be a very, very nervous man. Tutankhamun might finally get his revenge on Howard Carter after all.

:: For more Fink musings on the big issues in football, check out Half-time Orange on The World Game.