Egypt's soccer team will play in Cairo for the first time in two years when it competes for a spot in the World Cup.
The Egyptian soccer association decided Wednesday to hold the second leg of the World Cup playoff Nov. 19 against Ghana at a military stadium in the violence-hit capital.
The EFA also said that fans would be allowed in to watch the game at the 30 June Stadium.
The decision to play in Cairo for the first time since late 2011 was made after discussions among the national soccer body, state authorities and sports minister Taher Abouzeid, a former player.
Egypt hasn't qualified for the World Cup since 1990. But under former U.S. coach Bob Bradley, it advanced to the final two-leg playoffs for a place in Brazil next year with a perfect six wins in its group, the only team out of 40 to do that.
Bradley also had called for the playoff against 2010 World Cup quarterfinalist Ghana to be held in Cairo and in front of fans to boost the Egyptians' chances of making it to soccer's main event. The 30 June Stadium has a capacity of 30,000, and the EFA said it would be full for the Ghana game.
"We would love to play in Cairo," Bradley said after the playoff draw last week in Cairo. "That is the dream of the team."
Egypt's last game in Cairo was a 3-0 win over Niger in October 2011, four months before a deadly riot at a league game in the Mediterranean city of Port Said left more than 70 fans dead amid the country's political turmoil.
Since then, Egypt's national team has played in Alexandria and more recently in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna to avoid the unrest that has swept through Cairo and other major cities. The games have largely been played behind closed doors, although a few thousand supporters were allowed in to watch in El Gouna.
Egypt has won a record seven African championships. But the upheaval at home has affected the soccer team. Egypt was the three-time defending champion at the time of the 2011 overthrow of longtime President Hosni Mubarak. The country surprisingly failed to qualify for the 2012 African Cup and also missed out on the continental championship this year in South Africa.
The first leg of the decisive World Cup playoff is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Ghana.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Egypt to hold World Cup playoff in Cairo
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
World Cup stadium may be used for prisoner processing
RIO DE JANEIRO -- A World Cup stadium being built in the isolated Brazilian state of Amazonas may not become a white elephant after all.
At least one judge in the area has come up with a post-World Cup use: a prisoner processing center.
Brazil is readying 12 stadiums for next year's World Cup, and several -- including the new stadium in Manaus -- will be little used after the tournament.
FIFA and Brazilian officials were the subject of widespread protests three months ago during the Confederations Cup, a warm-up for the World Cup.
Millions took to the streets to protest spending billions on sports events in a country with poor public services, high taxes and stark social inequality.
Brazil is spending an estimated $3.5 billion on stadiums for the World Cup, part of a total of $13.3 billion for related infrastructure needed to host soccer's biggest event.
Spending on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics will be similar.
Alvaro Corado, spokesman for the Amazonas state court system, told The Associated Press Tuesday that Judge Sabino Marques had proposed a novel idea.
"He would, perhaps, suggest to the government of the state of Amazonas that the stadium be used as a processing center for prisoners after the World Cup," Corado said, quoting Marques.
Marques is also the president of a group that monitors the prison system in the state.
The new 44,000-seat stadium in Manaus, being built at a cost of $275 million, will host only four World Cup matches. The city of 2.3 million has no team in Brazil's first or second division, and little soccer tradition.
The potential for building white elephants is similar for three other new stadiums: in the capital Brasilia, in Cuiaba in the southwest, and in Natal in the northeast.
FIFA requires only eight stadiums for the World Cup, but Brazil decided to have 12 -- under pressure from politicians who used the construction projects to provide jobs and political loyalty.
Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has defended the legacy of the stadiums as "centers for sports and non-sports events" and has suggested they would be places for conventions, shows and fairs.
Other Brazilians officials have said cities will need to be creative to find uses for the stadiums.
Jose Maria Marin, the president of the Brazilian Football Federation, said earlier this year that finding uses for some stadiums after the World Cup will "all depend on the creativity, the imagination of the owners and the operators of these stadiums. It will depend on the imagination of each leader."
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press