Omar Sharif to Echorouk : “I wish the Algerian football squad could accomplish a remarkable performance in the World Cup competition”

The renowned world movie Star, Egyptian Omar Sharif, has chosen among other news media, the newspaper “Echorouk” for an exclusive interview in which he expressed his deep respect for the Algerian Revolution of November 1954 and his admiration for Algerian football by referring to the commendable performance achieved by the national squad during the 1982 World cup finals marked by Algeria's historic victory in Gijon over Germany.  

• Omar Sharif said, with great emotion, that he had known Algeria through 3 significant landmarks.
• The first one, he said, was the Algerian liberation struggle against the French colonial yoke.
• He affirmed that the Algerian November revolution had always been the pride of all the Arabs on account of its loftiness and patriotic grandeur among all the peoples yearning for justice, freedom and independence.
• Omar Sharif added that the glorious Algerian Revolution had been a great model for all those peoples struggling against occupation and colonialism.
• In this connection, Omar Sharif revealed that he was planning in 1961 to make a mega historic movie about the Algerian Revolution of November 1954 in order to project it across the world and give it an international scope.
• However, he was unfortunately prevented from carrying out this project by the nefarious Zionist lobby in Hollywood, he explained.
• Omar Sharif further indicated that he had the pleasure to meet and know well numerous Algerians across the world notably in the United States and Europe.
• He said that his Algerian friends had told him a lot about Algeria and its values with a deep sense of patriotism and great fervour.
• They also invited him to visit the country, but he was unfortunately unable to make the strip here, owing to his heavy work schedule.
• Omar Sharif also evoked largely his passion for football and referred to Algeria’s historic 2 – 1 victory in the 1982 World cup competition over Germany.
• He said that the Algerians’ highly meritorious triumph in Gijon had had a resounding impact throughout the world.
• The Algeria squad should have, in all fairness and equity, secured a berth in the second round of the 1982 competition, but jingoism and chicanery by certain European teams had the upper hand, he said.
• With regard to his expectations for the upcoming Algeria / Egypt qualifier of June 7th in Blida, Omar Sharif asserted that as an Egyptian, he could only wish that Egypt would wrench the qualifying ticket for the 2010 World cup to be hosted by South Africa.
• Notwithstanding, he said that apart from his country Egypt, he also wished Algeria well in the ongoing race for the qualification.