GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times GMT)
606: DEBATE
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By Jonathan Stevenson
1821: Tell you what - if Algeria go to the World Cup because of Antar Yahia’s magnificent volley, you’d have to say they deserve it. It gets better every time you see it.1819: Half-time Egypt 0-1 Algeria****1817: They think theVuvuzelas are badThey should spend an evening at Egypt-Algeria in Khartoum. It’s intense.1815: Not long until half-time now as Egypt’s Ahmed Fathi balloons a right-foot shot miles over from 25 yards.
Algeria goal: Goodness me it’s an absolute screamer. Karim Ziani’s ball into the Egypt box bounces and falls nicely for Antar Yahia, who fairly leathers a right-foot volley in-off the crossbar. Stunning strike - and it’s just got even livelier.1812: GOAL Egypt 0-1 Algeria****1810: Nadir Belhadj is late again, this time on Ahmed Hassan, and the Egyptian goes down like he has been shot. Hmm, I wonder if they’re trying to get the Pompey left-back sent off…From Paul in Gatley, via text on 81111: "Come on Ukraine! Went to Greece once, couldn’t taste any of the local food. Turns out I’ve no sense of humous."James Copnall at the El Merreikh Stadium: "Algeria’s Nadir Belhadj is lucky to still be on the pitch. He has already been booked, and lashed out at Egypt’s Ahmed Al Muhammadi with both lying on the floor. The referee chose to warn both men."1805: Magnificent save from Faouzi Chaouchi after Ahmed El Muhammadi had seized on to an opening inside the Algeria box on the right. his goalbound shot to the far post is brilliantly tipped away by the keeper. Egypt have started playing.1803: Saturday’s Egyptian hero Emad Motaeb gets away down the left and pulls it back to the edge of the Algerian 18-yard box, where Mohamed Aboutrika catches a volley sweetly but directs it a couple of yards wide.From JonesMike101 on Twitter:](http://twitter.com/JonesMike101)“I thought I’d never say it but… I hope both Egypt and Algeria remember that football is just a game. Let’s hope a good one.”
Good sentiment, but based on the first 30 minutes, no chance1800: Amr Zaki has gone down clutching his face. He gets up limping. Er… They can’t even take a free-kick because so much is kicking off.1759: The noise from the crowd in Khartoum is mental. Egypt’s Wael Gomaa is booked for bundling over Abdelkader Ghezzal, looked a bit harsh that. Not sure it’s gonna end 11 v 11, this one.1757: Ukraine v Greece line-ups:
Ukraine: Pyatov, Rakitskiy, Kucher, Mykhalyk, Khacheridi, Kobin, Aliev, Tymoschuk, Yarmolenko, Shevchenko, Milevskiy.
Subs: Bogush, Chygrynskiy, Gusev, Seleznyov, Mandziuk, Gai, Rotan.
Greece: Tzorvas, Spyropoulos, Vyntra, Kyrgiakos, Moras, Papastathopoulos, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Samaras, Charisteas, Salpingidis.
Subs: Sifakis, Pliatsikos, Makos, Ninis, Tziolis, Gekas, Mitroglou.
Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal)1756: Rare bit of danger from the Egyptians so far as Ahmed El Muhammadi’s right-wing cross is cleared by the Algerian defence.1754: Booking for Abdelkader Ghezzal and he can have few complaints after crashing into Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadari as he caught Nadir Belhadj’s left-wing cross. The Algerians are having the best of it, though.1751: Feel free toTwitter mewhile we wait for Cheesy to get involved, incidentally. Egypt haven’t been to a World Cup since 1990; Algeria since 1986. It’s just enormous, this one.1749: Don’t forget, Ukraine v Greece kicks off in Donetsk in 11 of your World Cup minutes. Keep you posted in a massive way - remember, it’s 0-0 from the first leg.1747: Massive chance for the Algerians. Egypt defend a ball into the box in woeful fashion and it falls for Antar Yahia on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, but Essam El Hadari makes himself big and makes a top-drawer save.From Mark, Blackpool, via text on 81111: “Do you know If Bouazza is on the bench for Algeria I never thought as a Blackpool fan one of our players would be involved in a game between these two countries!”
*He’s on the bench, Mark. A Hameur blow, no doubt…*1741: Nadir Belhadj plays a little one-two on the edge of the Egyptian box and the Pompey player leans back and fires his left-foot shot over.BBC Sport’s Stephen Fottrell in Paris: "The Green Army has moved from north Dublin to under the Eiffel Tower. Not quite in the same numbers as five years ago - the last time Ireland were here for a qualifier - but a very impressive turnout all the same. Especially given the weekend’s result and the efforts of the French footballing authorities to limit the number of tickets for travelling fans.
“The boys in green will enjoy another noisy support tonight, but whether they can turn the tie around and achieve what would arguably be the greatest result in their history is another matter. These fans remain optimistic, more so with every afternoon beer.”
1736: To say they don’t like each other would be a pretty enormous understatement. A foul leads to half a brawl in the middle of the pitch - I say half, because I can’t help but feel it might get worse. Referee Eddy Maillet keeps his cards in his pocket, thankfully.1734: The atmosphere in Khartoum can probably be described as lively. Gates to the stadium opened five hours before kick-off andSudan has deployed 15,000 police to ensure they will not be trouble.Let’s hope football remains the focus tonight. Yellow card for Nadir Belhadj after only 56 seconds. Uh-oh.1732: The game begins in Khartoum. It’s Egypt v Algeria for a place in the World Cup finals. If you so wish,you can watch the drama unfold on the Fifa website.1730: Stevo’s Predos:
Egypt 2-1 Algeria
Ukraine 2-0 Greece
Bosnia-Hercegovina 1-1 Portugal
Slovenia 1-1 Russia
France 2-0 Rep of Ire1726: The teams are out in Khartoum. There are about 12 million people on the pitch.* It’s not about to start yet, promise you that.
** This may be a slight exaggeration1725: You’d be crazy to not want to partake in such revelry, wouldn’t you HitCheesy on Twitter,](http://twitter.com/carolinecheese)hit heron 606*](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A59751877)and get those texts coming in to 81111. Especially if you’re at the Al Merreikh Stadium in Khartoum this evening.1722: Of course I haven’t forgotten about Uruguay v Costa Rica - that starts at 2300 GMT tonight and that is officially for the last place in South Africa.1720: Egypt v Algeria line-ups:
Egypt: Essam El Hadary, Ahmed Al Muhamadi, Abdel Zaher El Sakka, Hani Said, Ahmed Fathi, Amr Zaki, Emad Meteab, Wael Gomaa, Sayed Moawad, Ahmed Hassan (c), Mohamed Aboutrika.
Algeria: Fawzi Chaouchi, Rafik Saifi, Mourad Maghini, Hassan Yebda, Yazid Mansouri (c), Karim Ziani, Antar Yahia, Nadir Belhadj, Madjid Bougherra, Rafik Halliche, Abdelkader Ghezzal.1718: That’s just the first of the final five places at next summer’s feast of football that are up for grabs tonight. Here’s the running order for the European play-off second leg ties:
Ukraine v Greece (agg: 0-0) 1800 GMT
Bosnia-Hercegovina v Portugal (agg: 0-1) 1945 GMT
Slovenia v Russia (agg: 1-2) 1945 GMT
France v Rep of Ireland (agg: 1-0) 2000 GMT1715:Cheesy’sgone missing. Which means that for the start of tonight’s proceedings, you’re stuck with me. Luckily, in 15 minutes,Egypt and Algeria will once again play for a place at the 2010 World Cup.You’ve got tofeel sorry for the poor people of Khartoum,haven’t youThis article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.