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The Egyptian and Algerian soccer teams will meet tomorrow in Luanda, Angola for a semifinal match in the African Cup of Nations -- and diplomats from both countries are working to avoid a repeat of the violence that followed the last Egypt-Algeria match.

The diplomatic row between Algeria and Egypt seems to have cooled off, with Egyptians turning their attention to European football and Algerians looking ahead to the World Cup.

But Lebanese pop star Haifa Wehbe, perhaps sensing a business opportunity, announced last week that she won't schedule any more concerts in Algeria -- because Algerians "wouldn't understand" her music.

Surely her next announcement will be an Egyptian tour? Haifa should probably stick to playing venues in Lower Egypt, though, since she managed to offend the entire Nubian community last month by calling them "monkeys." (Earlier this week, an Egyptian court dropped the defamation lawsuit (عربي) filed against Wehbe by a group of Nubian lawyers.)

Lakhdar bin Turki, Algeria's ministry of culture, said Wehbe won't be allowed to perform in Algeria (عربي) "even if she apologizes."

Here's a question I've been mulling the last few days during moments when I haven't been chained to a separate piece of "real journalism" that I hope to be wrapping up today: Will Egyptians root for the United States in the World Cup?

As many of you undoubtedly know, FIFA held its random draw for the Cup's first round on Friday, and America found itself in a group with Algeria, as well as Slovakia and England.

Given the anger we're hearing from Egypt over how its fans were allegedly treated during a Cup-qualifying playoff game with Algeria in Khartoum, and the resulting diplomatic fallout, I wonder if Egyptian soccer fans will decide to support America, the villain of the Middle East, over their Arab - or at least African - neighbors to the West?

What say you, readers?

Egypt will not return its ambassador to Algeria until the latter apologizes and pays compensation (عربي), legal affairs minister Mufid Shehab said today.

Shehab said Egypt is not interested in permanently cutting diplomatic ties with its North African neighbor, but demanded a public apology and compensation for injuries and for damage to Egyptian businesses. He also said his government has submitted a dossier to FIFA detailing violence against Egyptian citizens.

I just got done reading a piece by Shaden Shehab in Al-Ahram that does some news analysis on the November Algeria-Egypt soccer match that has resulted in weeks of violence, protests and political grandstanding.

Shehab's article would be a funny bit of Arab-world satire if it wasn't real: He quotes prominent satellite television talk-show host Emadeddin Adib as saying that the alleged attacks by Sudanese on Egyptians who visited Khartoum for the match were part of a "conspiracy" organized by a "Gulf state."

Shehab follows that up by writing that "it is no secret that the Algerian newspaper Ech- Chorouk, which has taken an insulting editorial line towards Egypt, is financed by Qatar."

Several thoughtful readers passed along this story (عربي) from Libya's state-run JANA news agency. A rough translation:

JANA has learned that the leader of the revolution, the president of the African Union, will work to close the rift between the brotherly countries of Egypt and Algeria caused by the recent football match between the two. The Arab League's secretary general, Amr Moussa, made a telephone call on Monday and appealed for intervention to heal the rift within Arab-Arab relations.

The Egypt-Algeria mediation will cap off a busy month for the Libyan dictator, whose most recent act of diplomacy was to urge 500 beautiful Italian women to convert to Islam. (One of them reportedly accepted, so he's batting .002.)

The Egyptian government seems determined to milk the "Egypt-Algeria crisis" for at least a few more days of outrage.

Al-Masry Al-Youm reports (عربي) that demonstrations continued in Cairo yesterday; protesters demanded that Egypt cut its diplomatic relations with Algeria and expel Algerian students studying in Egypt.

An argument also broke out in parliament, where several committees -- Arab affairs, youth, and defense -- were meeting to discuss the "crisis." Lawmakers blamed each other for failing to protect Egyptians living in Algeria, and in Khartoum, where last week's final qualifying match was played.

Forgot to post this yesterday, but Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, had a good column yesterday (عربي) on the football riots in Egypt. He writes that football riots are normal -- but not when governments step in and encourage the rioting, or respond by withdrawing their ambassadors. (He also notes that Egypt didn't withdraw its ambassador from Israel, despite Israel's wars in Lebanon and Gaza.)

Relatedly: The Arabist has some good thoughts on the situation in Cairo.

Michael Slackman is being sensational when he compares yesterday's riot at the Algerian embassy to the Egyptian bread riots of the 1970s. The bread riots involved hundreds of thousands of people; hundreds were killed, and the government had to deploy the army to quell the protests.

Yesterday's riot, while ugly, involved a few hundred people, and a few dozen injuries, mostly to police officers. Al-Masry Al-Youm puts the numbers slightly higher (عربي): One thousand protesters clashing with roughly 5,000 police officers.

But Slackman's larger point is interesting: The Egyptian government, rather than trying to quell the anti-Algerian sentiment in the country, is stoking it.

First, to our readers in Egypt, Algeria and Sudan: If you have any stories about the security situation this week, we'd love to hear from you, in the comments section or via e-mail.

Al-Jazeera reports that a small group of protesters, throwing stones and homemade firebombs, tried to attack the Algerian embassy (عربي) on Brazil Street in Cairo's normally-peaceful Zamalek district. They were repelled by a large group of riot police, and the embassy is now cordoned off. Several police vehicles were reportedly destroyed in the clash; no word on injuries.

A pair of football matches seem to have turned into a serious international incident between Egypt and Algeria.

The Egyptian foreign ministry recalled its ambassador to Algeria today. The ministry also summoned Algeria's ambassador to Egypt, Abdul Qader Haggar, for the second time this week. Officials "informed him of... Egypt's extreme displeasure against the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team."

(Updated below) Algeria edged out the Egyptian squad to secure its third trip to the World Cup.

The lone goal came in the 40th minute: Antar Yahia blasted a close-range shot past the Egyptian goalkeeper, Essam el-Hadary. The Egyptian team had been the favorite to win today's qualifier, which was played under tight security in Khartoum.

Via Twitter, a cool photo of some Egyptian fans celebrating in the streets after their World Cup qualifier win over Algeria tonight:

This brings back memories. I was in Cairo during the African Cup in early 2006; I went to a couple of qualifiers (Egypt-Morocco and Libya-Ivory Coast), and I spent the night wandering Cairo with friends after Egypt won the finals. It seemed like the entire city was out in the streets. The celebration outlasted us, in fact; we called it a night around 2:30 a.m.

The tournament happened to coincide with the Muhammad cartoon riots, which made for some slightly absurd scenes -- men burning Danish flags next to guys selling Al-Ahly jerseys. Good times.

The streets of Cairo are loud with celebration tonight, after the country's soccer squad beat Algeria 2-0 in the waning seconds to force a one-game playoff on Wednesday that will determine which team qualifies for the 2010 World Cup.

You'll recall that Egyptian hooligans attacked Algeria's team as it arrived by bus to its Cairo hotel on Thursday. Video showed two or three Algerian players bleeding from the head and face; one held what looked like broken pieces of concrete in his hands - apparently what the mob was throwing.

Did the Egyptian football team have a little too much fun last month at the Confederation Cup tournament in South Africa?

Five players were robbed after the Egypt-Italy game, and they initially blamed it on thieving hotel staff -- not too far-fetched, given Johannesburg's high crime rate and general reputation as an urban hellhole.

But then South African reporters seized on another theory:

The Egyptian soccer players who claimed that they had been robbed at their hotel may have been having a party in one of their rooms before female partygoers made off with their money, according to a top Gauteng police official.

One South African newspaper said the players were "caught with their pants down." Others reported they'd been seen drinking with these ladies of the night.

Remember the Iranian football players who donned green armbands during a match to show their support for the pro-democracy protesters? The four of them have now been banned for life -- or "retired," according to Iranian state media.

Iran's hardline media have [also] since linked the protest to the arrest on Saturday of Mohsen Safayi Farahani, who headed the country's football governing body under the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. He is one of several dozen opposition politicians, intellectuals and journalists to have been detained.

This perhaps goes without saying, but it is a sign of deep weakness when a regime feels threatened by four football players wearing wristbands.

Update #3: The oppressive Sunni majority has once again squashed Shi'ite hopes. Iran's soccer team won't be heading to the 2010 World Cup, after Saudi Arabia and North Korea tied 0-0 earlier today. That meant that Saudi Arabia gained one crucial point, inching ahead of Iran 12 to 11 and taking the third and final spot in their group. Does anyone know how closely the country was following this, in the midst of the post-election maelstrom? --Evan

I haven't been paying nearly enough attention to the World Cup qualifiers, but I just noticed that North Korea has nearly KO'd Iran's chances by forcing a draw on Sunday. Iran now sits in fourth place in its group and has to hope that Saudi Arabia, three points ahead in the standings, plays poorly in its final two matches against North Korea and South Korea.

For whatever reason, I'm never happy when North Korea wins a sporting event. Maybe it has to do with the country's human rights record, but then there's a lot of other candidates for that dubious honor who I don't root against. I suppose I was hoping Iran could pull this out, since they're my favorite in that group, which also includes the United Arab Emirates. As the Time article notes, Iran has a charming style of play, and I would've liked to see them in the Cup.