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United States’ future World Cup opponents Algeria have started to organise their preparation for the summer tournament. The Algerian Football Association has lined up Serbia for a friendly at the Stade du 5 Juillet in Algiers on March 3rd. Serbia is one of the constituents of the former Yugoslavia, as is Slovenia, World Cup opponents for Algeria and of course the USA.
The African side believe playing Serbia will give them an advantage when they face Group C opponents Slovenia in South Africa.
Algeria coach Rabah Saadane said: “Serbia are a similar kind of team to Slovenia, who we will play against in the World Cup.” For their part, Serbia, who are in Group D, will face African opposition in Ghana as well as Germany and Australia.
Meanwhile, the country the Algerians defeated in a controversial play-off have wasted no time in offering to assist Algeria’s opponents.
The Egyptian FA has confirmed it is talking to England’s FA to play England at Wembley on the same day to assist England’s preparations for the World Cup. England manager Fabio Capello is naturally looking to play African opposition and he has picked out the Pharoahs as having a similar style to Algeria.
Hany Abou Rida of the Egyptian FA told Eurosport Arabia, “After the World Cup draw, some officials from the English FA and Fabio Capello talked to me about the same issue. They all asked for a match with the Egyptian team at Wembley next March, and we are now discussing their offer within the Egyptian FA.”
Egypt are the reigning African champions, but will not be in South Africa after losing to Algeria in a chaotic, violent and close play-off in Sudan last month, ordered after they finished exactly level in their qualification group. The two nations have a history of violent clashes and there have been mutual complaints about the behaviour of each other’s fans, although most observes consider the Egyptians’ claims to be mere tit for tat, and that their fans were the primary culprits. Nonetheless, diplomats from both countries became involved in a bout of populist posturing, with the only beneficiary being the politicians in the Irish Republic, whose behaviour had been an increasing embarrassment. The spiraling claim and counter claim of the the two North African nations at least served to deflect from their ridiculous attempts to be the 33rd team at the World Cup.
Capello was quick to point out the advantages of a game against Egypt, calling it “a nice choice to know the style of the North Africans.” According to London’s Daily Telegraph, England are also lining up either Mexico or Honduras for a May friendly, in preparation for the game against the United States
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