We live in an extremely ethnic part of Paris with tons of Northern Africans, and apparently Egypt is playing Algeria tonight to decide who goes to the World Cup. As a result, our neighborhood has been nutso since last night. Thousands of people are out in the streets draped in Algerian flags, honking horns, dancing, yelling, singing.... and this is all in ANTICIPATION of the match. It's wild. I can't even imagine what's going to happen if they win.
The match is in Cairo, and apparently the Algerian team bus was attacked by a mob when they left the airport the night before the game. Literally half the team had bleeding head wounds from bricks being hurled through the bus windows. I guess you would call this homefield advantage for Egypt. The last time these teams met in a World Cup qualifier was 1989 in what has since been dubbed the "Match of Hate." A fan lost an eye in the fighting that broke out and an Interpol arrest warrant was issued for an Algerian player after the game. Yikes!
I think I'm rooting for Algeria so that my neighborhood doesn't get burnt to the ground.
Update: Algeria lost 2-0 and while my neighborhood remained relatively quiet thanks to the hoards of riot police (some of which you can see in the pic below) apparently things were a little more chaotic in Marseilles.
Vraiment triste, ca. But you will find Euro football has a lot of passion and surprises all along the way. Hope you get the fever when La France is playing Germany, Spain, GB, or a host of other rivals. And then they have more cup tournaments than you can keep track of. Enjoy each second. - Bill
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention...thanks for the video clip of the French news. That did my heart good to hear the newscasters rattle off the football story. - Bill
ReplyDeleteYay! Pictures!
ReplyDeletePuppies!!