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'History means nothing' Egypt's Gili looks ahead despite Tunisia's dominance
Posted: Friday February 04, 2000 04:13 PM
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Eleven years of futility against Tunisia doesn't faze Egypt, not at least when you seem to have momentum. "I don't deal with history, only with reality," Egyptian national team manager Gerard Gill told Al-Ahram, Egypt's leading newspaper, heading into Monday's African Cup quarterfinal clash in Kano, Nigeria. "To me, history means nothing." Despite Egypt having gone winless against its fellow North African nation since a 4-0 victory in a 1989 friendly, the Frenchman can afford to be confident considering his side is the only one to have made it through the first round of the African Cup with three victories. Egypt -- the five-time and African Cup defending champion, also has scored the most goals, seven, of any team in the tournament. Conversely, Tunisia, which has never won he title, scraped into the quarterfinals on goal difference over a disappointing Morocco, which suffered its first lost in 15 months when it was beaten by Nigeria 2-0 on Thursday in the final group game. But the Pharoahs still have reason to be concerned. Tunisia has a history of prevailing in their head-to-head clashes at moments. Tunisia qualified for the 1978 World Cup finals at the expense of the Egyptians, and repeated that feat 20 years later to go to France '98. Monday's meeting will be the first between the two in the finals of the African Cup, and -- as often is the case in Egypt's encounters with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Morocco or Algeria -- it is likely to feature brutal tackles, off-the-ball altercations and endless bickering with referees. Recent events are unlikely to ease the tensions. Their game will come exactly a week after an Olympic volleyball qualifying mach between the two nations in Cairo degenerated into violence, an incident viewed by millions of Egyptians on television. The riots caused thousands of dollars of damage to the arena and Egyptian coach Ibrahim Fakhrddin, a television producer, two fans and a cameraman also were beaten. Fakhreddin and the producer were hospitalized. The incident triggered an uproar in the Egyptian media and several newspaper columnists wrote that charges were not pressed against two Tunisian players -- team captain Noureddin Hafeez and Baghdadi Mohammed -- for the sake of safeguarding "brotherly Arab ties." But football remains the only thing on Gili's mind. "I will sit and talk to the players to dismiss any hang-ups [about Tunisia] that they may still have," Gili said.
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