Word: cups
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...again on Nov. 18, Egypt went head to head with its archrival Algeria in an intense bid for a spot at next year's World Cup in South Africa. It was the first time the two had played a World Cup qualifying match in 20 years, and in the weeks leading up to the first game and the days that followed, everyone from the Egyptian regime to local industries was busy ratcheting up support for the home team. (Read "Cairo Braces for a Soccer Bombshell...
...facing a rising tide of domestic dissent. On the night of the first game, which Egypt won, thousands of Egyptians flooded into the main thoroughfares of their capital, screaming, dancing and wreaking havoc. After the second game in Khartoum, in which Egypt lost its shot at the World Cup, the emphasis shifted to seeking revenge: hundreds amassed in front of the Algerian embassy in Cairo, burning Algerian flags, and eventually clashing with scores of riot police...
...definitely goes for you, knee-jerk anti-French wise guys who still think it's hip to rip the French six years after Freedom Fries were neither hip nor funny. Do-overs belong in the fifth-grade schoolyard. A rematch for a global event like the World Cup could set a disastrous precedent for sports in general. (See the worst sporting cheats of all time...
...Consider all the positive strides in British-Irish relations since 1986, the year Diego Maradona's similarly illegal "Hand of God" goal knocked England out of the World Cup quarterfinals and propelled Argentina to the championship. Do we now want the Brits bitter that the Irish got their do-over, and they didn't? In 1985, umpire Don Denkinger cost the St. Louis Cardinals a World Series by blowing an obvious call at first base in the bottom of the ninth in Game 6. How did the Cardinal faithful respond to their unholy, unjust loss to their intra-state opponent...
...Face it, Irish fans: our underdog status against the 1998 World Cup champion, and 2006 second-place finishers, helped ignite the anti-Henry outrage. If a relatively anonymous Irish forward pulled the same stunt to send the French home, he'd probably be lauded as a plucky player who happened to outfox the refs. And say the game was replayed, and Ireland came out and destroyed a distracted French team - would that really feel good? If the Henry handball never happened, who's to say France wouldn't have scored a few minutes later? Or won the game...