The groups for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 were drawn today, which should go at least some way to cheering up teams like Egypt and Tunisia who very narrowly missed the World Cup 2010 boat.

The tournament takes place in Angola from January 10th to January 31st, 2010. We've got blogs and bloggers for 12 of the 16 teams involved in the tournament.

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The Egyptians summon the Algerian envoy twice, recall their envoy from Algiers. Sudan summons the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum. The Algerian embassy is currently under siege in Cairo with thousands of fans trying to storm their compound. It's all happening in rapid succession.

Now Egypt has upped the ante threatening to pull out of football for two years in protest of what happened to fans, sports officials, and players in Sudan.

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Egypt suspended its membership of the Union of North African Football Federations on Thursday, complaining that Algerian fans had thrown stones at their supporters during the country's World Cup exit. The Egyptian Football Federation wrote to its counterparts in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia charging that its fans had come under . Click to continue reading...

The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.

It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-pF3OHY1c

Following the controversial decision to allow France's goal to stand as Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball prior to assisting William Gallas, it is only normal to have increased complaints and ever growing displeasure at the level of refereeing.

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Let's take a moment to reflect on the many different faces we've seen recently in World Cup qualifying action.

There's the good-old fashioned happy face, as seen (above), by Algerian keeper, Faouzi Chaouchi.

The "don't want you to see the tears" Face (Ukraine's Shevchenko)
The "I could give a shite if you see me cry, I'm a man and I have feelings" Face (Egypt's al-Hadary)
The "bish, I'll cut you" Face (Anyukov, Russia)
The "aggro-happy" Face (Pepe, Portugal)
The "my abs are overjoyed with emotion about this victory" Face (Perez, Uruguay)
And, our personal favourite, the "Who farted?

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Let's take a moment to reflect on the many different faces we've seen recently in World Cup qualifying action.

There's the good-old fashioned happy face, as seen (above), by Algerian keeper, Faouzi Chaouchi.

The "don't want you to see the tears" Face (Ukraine's Shevchenko)
The "I could give a shite if you see me cry, I'm a man and I have feelings" Face (Egypt's al-Hadary)
The "bish, I'll cut you" Face (Anyukov, Russia)
The "aggro-happy" Face (Pepe, Portugal)
The "my abs are overjoyed with emotion about this victory" Face (Perez, Uruguay)
And, our personal favourite, the "Who farted?

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The games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did some upsets, some heroics, a few of the expected teams going in but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2 Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of the necessary drama.

(Not, of course, that one played in the Stade de France.

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Image via Wikipedia The Russians would be kicking themselves for not completing the match on Saturday as a shocker allowed Slovenia to qualify for South Africa at Russia's expense. The Russian team had a one goal advantage but squandered, missed and ultimately lost everything at the hands of the lesser favoured opponents. Click to continue reading...

The match before this [in Egypt] was marred by crowd troubles and home fans throwing rocks at the Algerians. The scare tactics worked cause they walked away from that match as 2-0 victors and forced a playoff half a week later. Last night however, with the match taking place on ... Click to continue reading...

We finally have all 32 countries who will be in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa!!!After the games played on November 18th, Portugal, Greece, Uruguay, France, Algeria, and Slovenia have qualified for the tournament. Here are the results:Bosnia 0 – 1 Portugal (agg. 0-2)Ukraine 0 – 1 Greece (agg. Click to continue reading...

Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

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It has been a bleak season for VfL Bochum. The club sits 17th in the table, switched coaches instead of fortunes and only had Hertha Berlin to cheer them up. A trip to the national team can be a welcome change of scene for the players. Bochum's central defender Anthar Yahia and their striker Zlatko Dedic chose to make the most of it by sending their nations to South Africa in a decisive World Cup playoff.

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Video Info:
18.11.2009 - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
Algeria - Egypt 1:0

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No ramblings. No preamble. No time. Have to run out for work, so not too much time to marinate on the USMNT/Denmark game. You're getting bullet points. Enjoy. * Danish Tex Mex? Who would have figured? I'm sure salted cod and salsa make an excellent burrito combo. * Missed the first 15-odd minutes watching the ends of the Algeria/Egypt hate-cast and the Ukraine/Greece snooze-fest. Click to continue reading...

The Desert Foxes (not making this up either) beat Egypt 1-0 with a first half goal from Anthar Yahia of Germany's VfL Bochum. Last appeared in the finals in Mexico 86, where they drew with Northern Ireland but lost to Spain and Brazil.

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A stunning strike from Antar Yahia earned Algeria a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after a bad tempered encounter between the two north African nations.

Figthing erupts early on

Said goes close for Egypt

Yahia almost puts Algeria one up

Algeria go close again

Algerian keeper makes a great save

0-1 Yahia

Ghezzal goes close to making it two nil

Egypt almost equalize

Egypt thwarted again

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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A stunning strike from Antar Yahia earned Algeria a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after a bad tempered encounter between the two north African nations.

Figthing erupts early on

Said goes close for Egypt

Yahia almost puts Algeria one up

Algeria go close again

Algerian keeper makes a great save

0-1 Yahia

Ghezzal goes close to making it two nil

Egypt almost equalize

Egypt thwarted again

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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A mad rush to watch Algeria-Egypt last week... / via Globo

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African rivals Algeria and Egypt meet in Sudan today for a decisive FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier that will see the victorious side book their place in South Africa next year. Now you can check out the action LIVE and for FREE courtesy of FIFA.com at this link. Kick off is at 12:30 EST. Here's the spiel from [. Click to continue reading...

1. Two-face, footie version -- via Dirty Tackle
2. Bosnian superfans -- via Futbolita
3. Messi getting wiggy -- via La Permanente a Messi
4. Toni's got a gun! -- via Kickette
5. Egypt v. Algeria -- via Goal!
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The final six World Cup 2010 places all get decided today, with the second legs of the four European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game playoff for the final African qualifying spot.

It's all very very tight. The winners of these six ties get the the glory, the losers learn firsthand the meaning of the word "nearly".

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The securities have been tightened, people has been pouring in from all circles and the atmosphere has started to be nerve wrecking as Egypt will face Algeria at Khartoum, Omdurman. This is going to be highly tense encounter between these two African nations and both are ready to fight it out again after a tense [. Click to continue reading...

In honour of today's Algeria vs Egypt showdown in Sudan, had planned on putting together a Top 10 Biggest International Rivalries post. But halfway through I realized it wasn't a great idea. Your own national team's rivalry will always feel bigger than anyone else's, so why include some in a Top 10 but not others?

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Naguib Sawiris feels that the match should be postponed

Want an Orascom cell phone?

Egypt's giant telecom company, Orascom had its Algiers compund burned and ransacked by thousands of Algerian fans. Property worth $5m was either destroyed or stolen according to Orascom's CEO Naguib Sawiris.

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There are six places left in the 2010 World Cup, and 12 teams will spend today fighting to be one of those lucky six.

Today marks the last day of World Cup qualifying and matches on three continents will determine who rounds out the field of 32. European powers France, Portugal and Russia will look to secure places in South Africa, while bitter rivals Egypt and Algeria will kick off today's proceedings in a winner-take-all playoff.

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The Battle of Omdurman commences today.

The Egyptians are this close to wresting the last qualifying spot from Africa at the expense of Algeria.

The backdrop has been a war of words between the two countries and their supporters, resulting in violence before the Cairo clash in which the bus carrying the Algerian players was stoned and left members of the team bleeding.

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With football heavyweights France, Portugal and Russia looking to seal their place in South Africa you would be a fool to discount the action in Europe. But tonight in Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan, Egypt and Algeria clash in the day's most explosive tie.

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With football heavyweights France, Portugal and Russia looking to seal their place in South Africa you would be a fool to discount the action in Europe. But tonight in Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan, Egypt and Algeria clash in the day's most explosive tie.

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- Egypt and Algeria are into the play-off which is slated to be played on Wednesday. It's amazing how important this game is. It took a dramatic 2-0 win by Egypt on the final match day to force this one-game winner-take-all match where the victorious team will enter the 2010 World Cup while the loser will [. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... busts out some World Cup playoff predictions. Click to continue reading...

The praise was Nigeria's but the prize was Switzerland's. Hot on the heels of the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt and sandwiched between that and the real thing next summer, the Under-17 World Cup 2009... Click to continue reading...

Easily the greatest penalty shootout celebration in history. (0.20) Fabio Capello is not such a hit in Spain. (La Liga Loca) The dam is breaking in Manchester. (EPL Talk) Raymond Domenech: not so smart. (The Spoiler) Amaral writes a nice, though curious, parting letter. (SoccerLens) Robin van Persie to get mystery placenta juice treatments. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to the World Cup party New Zealand, Nigeria and Cameroon!
Egypt scored a goal in the 5th minute of extra time against Algeria to keep its W.C. dream alive, it needed a 2-0 result. The rematch between the two teams is Wednesday in Sudan.
Here are the results of the UEFA playoff first legs: Russia 2-1 Slovenia, Ireland 0-1 France, Portugal 1-0 Bosnia, Ukraine 0-0 Greece. Click to continue reading...

This weekend was the World Cup qualifying climax in Africa, and there was plenty of qualification drama to go around. The winners of each of the five groups qualified for World Cup 2010, and everyone else missed out. But there was a pretty decent consolation prize for the ten second and third placed teams, as World Cup qualifying doubles as Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and the top three in each group qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (also known as the African Nations Cup, ACN and CAN) in Angola.

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