In an effort to cement the reconciliation between Samir Zaher, head of Egypt's football federation, and his Algerian counterpart, Mohamed Rawrawa, the former has proposed a "friendly match" between the two countries' national teams.
Zaher also invited Rawrawa to attend a meeting of the Arab Football Federation, slated to be held in Cairo on 24 December. “His attendance would deepen the relationship between our federations,” Zaher said.
In comments to the Algerian press, however, Rawrawa has said he was pressured into reconciling with his Egyptian counterpart by the international and Asian football federations.
“I was forced into it,” he was quoted as saying. “But I will never forgive those who humiliated the Algerian people and their ambassador in Cairo.”
“We had to reconcile because we were scheduled to meet at different championships,” Rawrawa added.
Algerian daily al-Shorouk, for its part, has demanded that Egypt officially apologize to Algeria for misconduct on the part of Egyptian football fans who attacked the Algerian embassy in the wake of a heated football match in late 2009.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
