There couldn’t have been anything hotter in the semi-finals of the competition than a repeat of last year’s 2010 World Cup qualification play-off match between Egypt and Algeria.

Algerian players celebrating their passage into the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations semis.This game will come up at 19:30 GMT at the Complexo da Sr. da Graca stadium in Benguela.

Algeria: the example of unity and faith?

When Cote d’Ivoire’s Kader Keita scored with one minute of normal time remaining on the clock, the public thought that victory had been sealed for the Elephants and that the dream had ended for the Desert Foxes of Algeria.

But this was not to be. In a miraculous comeback for the Algerians, Bougherra and Bouzza both scored as Cote d’Ivoire finally crashed out of the competition.

Algeria don’t have big star names in their squad but they are in the semi-finals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. It’s a difficult dream to realize but they did it in style.

 

It looks like time has no meaning for the Algerians, and it seems like nothing is impossible.

Their victory over the Elephants of La Cote d’Ivoire might have sent out a strong message to the Egyptians:

The Desert Foxes are not satisfied yet. They are ready to throw down the Pharaohs again!

Egypt – the hardest taskEgypt battling it out against Algeria in Khartoum during the 2010 World Cup play-off match.

Egyptians are dreaming of clinching an unprecedented number of three Nations Cup titles on the trot.

But will they succeed in achieving this wish?

The wound that Algerians inflicted in their hearts in November 2009 still persists.

Egypt’s squad comprises a number of aging players who may therefore never accomplish their dream of playing in a World Cup tournament.

For them, there will be nothing sweeter than to hit back at Algeria, the team that disqualified them from reaching South Africa 2010.

On Monday, Egypt triumphed over Cameroon in the quarter-finals and the game was not only marked by Ahmed Hassan’s record 170 caps for the Pharaohs.

The captain’s free-kick, which rounded up the Egyptians’ 3-1 win over the Indomitable Lions, also grabbed the headlines as the ball apparently didn’t cross the line.

So there was some controversy there, but it didn’t prevent the defending champions from celebrating at the end of the 120 minutes.

The question now will be: was this actually their last laugh in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations?