Fotballopptøyene i Kairo natt til fredag er en påminnelse om kreftene som bor i de fattige, fremtidsløse unge mennene som Egypt har altfor mange av. Israel er oppbrukt, nå kunne man la fotball tenne ilden og myndighetene pustet til. Det var det spesielle og urovekkende: medier og øvrighetspersoner egget folkemassene. Til dels med ren løgn om at egypere var angrepet i Khartoum, der begge matchene forløp.

After the second match in Khartoum, Egyptian newspapers unleashed stirring headlines about Egyptian fans being attacked by machete-wielding crowds — allegations never confirmed. Sudanese police said there were only a handful of light injuries.

«Barbaric attacks on Egyptian fans in Khartoum,» read one headline in the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. «Algerians chase Egyptian fans with knives and machetes,» said another.

«Algeria: a legacy of blood, hatred and a history of violence» read another headline in an apparent reference to the civil war between Islamic extremists and Algerian government forces that killed up to 200,000 people in the 1990s.

One Egyptian TV program invited viewers to express an opinion about whether Algeria might even be in league with Israel. Some Egyptians even claimed Algerians are not real Arabs or Muslims.

One of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s sons, a businessman who rarely speaks in public, took the unusual step of phoning in to a television talk show and delivering a 40-minute rant. Alaa Mubarak, who attended the match in Khartoum, called on Egypt to respond to the Algerians’ «terror, hostility.»

«It is impossible that we as Egyptians take this. We have to stand up and say, ‘Enough,'» he said. «When you insult my dignity … I will beat you on the head.»

Egypt’s media stoked soccer fan anger with Algeria