ESPN agrees

ESPN Soccernet apparently agrees with me that all the Algeria red cards were richly deserved. They pull no punches in their game story:

“Algeria ended their African Nations Cup in disgrace as they had three men sent off in their 4-0 defeat to Egypt in the second semi-final.

The Desert Foxes ended up with eight men, as Rafik Halliche (38), Nadir Belhadj (70) and goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi (88) were given their marching orders, allowing defending champions Egypt to run out easy winners to gain revenge for their World Cup play-off exit in mid-November last year.”

Photo caption:

Nadir Belhadj walks off after being sent off for a shocking tackle.

celebratory mobs

They’re literally dancing and singing in the streets already. Good katharsis for the country after what happened in November.

The Interior Ministry (wisely) established an iron grip for a couple of blocks around the Algerian Embassy this time. Nothing bad will happen now; only Americans riot after winning. But they’re being careful anyway. I was interrogated with moderate seriousness before being allowed home. And it’s absolutely empty inside that security cordon, as though I lived in a haunted neighborhood.

Sunday is the final. But Algeria can hardly be blamed in case of a loss to Ghana, so I would imagine that my neighborhood is in the clear for another couple of years now.

4-0

Gedo strikes at the very end of stoppage time. Egypt crushes their archrival and will face Ghana for a possible third straight African crown.

red for goalie

chaouchi just sent off with a deserved red. New goalie for Algeria with just 8 players in action. All three reds deserved. Ugly night by the Algerians.

3-0

Abdelshafi enters, and scores within a couple of minutes.

Algeria is buried in this one.

2-0

Mohamed Zidan, of Borussia Dortmund in the German league, gives Egypt some insurance with a fine goal.

And there is another red card for Algeria! Down to 9 players on the field.

Watching with the students, who are loving it.

Egypt leads at half

Egypt, playing both for a place against
Ghana in the African final and for a normal livable week on Brazil
Street in Zamalek, leads 1-0 thanks to a penalty kick late in the half.

Still early, but looks good for Egypt. Red card for one Algerian already and their goalkeeper has a yellow.

Egypt vs. Algeria

The traffic jam from the airport was probably just the usual Thursday night traffic (the equivalent of Friday night for most of my readers). But they’re selling flags everywhere, and there’s a mixture of thrill with a touch of worry in the streets.

Why? Because, against all of my hopes, tonight’s second African semifinal will be, again, Egypt vs. Algeria. It’s the last matchup I wanted to see. I’d be watching it and pulling hard for Egypt anyway, but if they lose a normal match I can shrug and walk away. If they lose this one, then my home gets cordoned off by 1,000 or more soldiers again, maybe. (In case any of you are new readers who weren’t here in November when Egypt unfortunately lost the World Cup qualifying playoff to Algeria, I happen to live directly across the street from the Algerian Embassy.)

Otherwise, it’s good to be back, though 4 days of vacation every 2 years is a pretty ridiculous pattern that needs to stop now. That wasn’t enough.

Forgot to mention… One of the passengers on that flight had what appeared to be a psychotic episode– screaming and the like. Luckily it didn’t start until just as we were landing. One of the attendants tried to calm him a bit, but he kept screaming, in English, about his wife and daughter. I didn’t catch quite what. From my distant vantage point he looked European (like Nietzsche, unnervingly enough) but when they finally carried his passport by it was definitely Egyptian.

The attendant somehow convinced the guy to give him his passport. Then the attendant walked it down the aisle and handed it to the guy right behind me: a tall, ultra-fit, youngish Egyptian guy in a white shirt and dark tie. He turned out to be an air marshal, which I wouldn’t but should have guessed. He opened the passport and saw something there, I don’t know what, that led him to make one of those nods that say “oh yeah, one of those.” Not sure what it was. But the passenger was still raving and screaming as we got off.

Terminal 3 definitely improves the “welcome to Egypt” experience. It’s the only one of the three terminals that is calming rather than nerve-wracking to enter, and I am glad they built it. Also, was really hassled by the customs guy this time, which pretty much never happens to any obviously non-Egyptian person here. With Egyptians they are really strict even about things like clothing importation rules (last I heard, there was a limit of 6 new shirts purchased abroad).

one from Malta and on Malta

There’s time for one quick Malta post before the final breakfast on the island, but it’ll be brief because the wireless is still so feeble this morning that this may not even be postable once it’s done.

Most expats who have been in Egypt as long as I have, have already been to Malta one or more times; it’s only three hours from Egypt, after all. For various reasons I never got around to it until now, though there was a very close call three years ago. But it’s been just about the most satisfying vacation imaginable.

All of the places that most travelers like here are certainly to be recommended. The capital, Valletta, is a striking late 16th century city, constructed by the Knights of Malta after they barely survived the Turkish siege of 1565. The buildings are wonderful, and the narrow, hilly streets are fun to walk on. It was also enjoyable to take a boat trip one afternoon all around both sides of Valletta.

Many people are especially fond of Gozo, the smaller island just to the northwest of the main one. That was great too. And so was Mdina, the inland former capital, now more a museum than a city.

But my own vote for the highlight would be something quite a bit humbler, though the Maltese are very fond of it too (at least the ones I spoke with). And that is that Malta has by far the best corniche for walking and thinking that I have encountered on any of my travels in the world. It extends from Sliema (just west of the capital) all the way to the edge of St. Julian’s, the next suburb further west from Sliema.

What’s so nice about it? Well, you have the Mediterranean, but so does every corniche in this part of the world. (Beirut’s is nice too.) What really makes this an especially good one is that it follows a winding path along several micro-bays and mini-inlets. The waves crash dramatically all the way along the route, but you’re safely 40 feet above them. The whole experience is best at night.

When you get to the end of the route, you’re in Paceville (pronounced “Patchyville”), where all the night activities are. The total walk is probably somewhere just around 2 miles, but with all the twists of the coastline it feels like about 10 miles’ worth of variety.

There are some magnificent views in that stretch, and I’d be happy to live for a decade anywhere in that vicinity, especially if I had a sea view out the front window.

The best thing about vacations in new places is that they feel so long. If this had been Alexandria for 4 days, it would have been great as ever, but it would have felt like exactly 4 days. But 4 days seeing entirely new things feels like about 4 weeks, which is exactly what was needed after that crushingly busy January.

Malta may have moved to the top of my “Places to Move After Winning the Powerball Lottery” list. (The people are also nice, I should have added.) You get the comfort level of the EU, but with just enough cultural strangeness added to give it some spice. And it’s especially funny to hear all the words that sound exactly like Egyptian Arabic. (And in fact, they are Arabic words from the Arab period of Malta, in pre-Norman days.)

My only regret was that the day-trip to Sicily (including Mt. Aetna) was not available yesterday, the only day on this trip that was free for such a thing. Next time.

Srnicek’s piece

All right, I was able to find Nick Srnicek’s INTERVIEW ON INDIEOMA via Google. But I was barely able to skim it due to really weak wireless service at the moment. Follow that link, and you can read it for yourself.