Maher Mezahi joins Jonathan Wilson and Marcus Speller for this week’s episode of Greatest Games to look back on the chaotic World Cup qualifying play-off between north African rivals Algeria and Egypt in 2009.

 

The match was the third of the year between the two sides played on neutral grounds in Omdurman, Sudan. The rivalry between the two nations resurfaced at the previous meeting in Cairo, just four days prior, as fans clashed before and after the match. The tension was paramount in Sudan as the stakes were high with qualification for the 2010 World Cup, the first hosted in Africa, on the line in this one-off clash.

 

Jonathan Wilson founded The Blizzard in 2011 and is editor of the magazine. He’s contributed to a number of publications including the Guardian and Sports Illustrated as well as having authored  Behind the Curtain, Inverting the Pyramid, The Outsider, Angels with Dirty Faces and most recently The Names Heard Long Ago, among others. 

 

Marcus Speller is a host of the Football Ramble podcast as well as Answerable Questions with Questionable Answers. Marcus also regularly hosts our live Q&A events across the country alongside Jonathan.

 

Maher Mezahi is an Algerian journalist covering sport in north Africa with contributions to the BBC, the Guardian, the Telegraph, Al Jazeera and many more.

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