Premier League stars caught in coach ambush: FIFA concern after two players injured

Portsmouth pair Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda, Hull's Kamel Ghilas and Blackpool's Hameur Bouazza narrowly avoided injury when Algeria's team bus was ambushed by a 100-strong mob of Eygpt fans hurling stones ahead of World Cup qualifier in Cairo.

• Two players needed stitches to face and head wounds, and Rangers defender Madjid  Bougherra said: ‘The coach windows simply exploded. It was absolutely staggering. We didn’t panic and the bus kept on moving, but we were all stretched out on the floor.’
• Egypt and Algeria play for a place in the World Cup on Saturday, 20 years after a similar make-or-break match between the teams sparked riots.
• FIFA said that its delegation in Cairo was also looking into the incident. On Saturday, special forces, counter terrorism squads and plain clothes agents will be deployed in and around the 80,000-seat stadium. Police will search fans entering the stadium. Sharp objects, cans and glass bottles will be banned, the official said.
• In Algiers, fans burned Egyptian flags.
• The Egypt foreign minister assured the Algerian government that their citizens would be safe in Cairo.
• The match will determine which of the two African teams qualifies for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
•  Both countries have been in the competition twice before, but Algeria hasn’t qualified in 24 years.
• Egypt, a record six-time African Cup of Nations champion, last qualified for the World Cup 1990 but faces a tough challenge Saturday. It needs to win by at least three goals to qualify – or by two to secure a playoff with Algeria.
• If necessary, a playoff between the teams will be held in Sudan.
• In 1989, the two played in similar circumstances. Egypt won, advancing to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, sending Algeria home. After the match in Cairo, fans clashed, and the Egypt team doctor lost an eye when he was hit by a bottle.
• “This can be a very tough and tense game,” said Hassan al-Mistikawi, an Egyptian sports commentator. “It will all depend on whether the Egyptians score early. If the Algerians do, it will get very rough.”