{"id":3766,"date":"2023-05-07T19:40:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T18:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3766"},"modified":"2023-05-07T20:40:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T19:40:45","slug":"the-disgrace-of-annaba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2023\/05\/07\/the-disgrace-of-annaba\/","title":{"rendered":"The Disgrace of Annaba?<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Annaba\u2019s Stade May 19th<\/sup> 1956<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 7th<\/sup> 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Que se besen, Que se Besen! (Let them kiss, Let them Kiss!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Algerian \u2013 African even \u2013 football fan will ever forget June 25th<\/sup> 1982. It is a day that lives in infamy throughout football. On that \u2018The Non-Aggression Pact\u2019 which is better known as the Disgrace of Gij\u00f3n took place at the Estadio El Molin\u00f3n in the 1982 World Cup Finals. It was the last match in Group 2. Algeria had played earlier, so West Germany and Austria knew exactly what result would send both through to the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Germany scored in the first ten minutes \u2013 a 1-0 win for them meant Algeria would miss out. The second half was a blatant fix played almost entirely without even the threat of a shot. Even Austrians and West Germans were disgusted as was the crowd, which chanted, \u2018Que se besen, Que se besen!\u2019 at both teams. It meant, \u2018Let them kiss, Let them kiss!\u2019 A more blatant example of match-fixing was hard to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007 West Germany\u2019s Hans Peter Briegel admitted that despite FIFA\u2019s finding that the match had not been fixed, it had been (https:\/\/www.eurosport.com\/football\/international-news\/2006-2007\/briegel-makes-confession_sto1050391\/story.shtml<\/a>). The admission did nothing for Algeria. The Desert Foxes had been robbed \u2013 nothing would ever change that. FIFA all but admitted foul play had prevailed by changing the rules for the next World Cup \u2013 the final group stage matches would be played at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh, The Irony<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tonight, Cameroon will play Burkina Faso in Annaba\u2019s Stade May 19th<\/sup> 1956 in the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Ironically, the very same fixed result that occurred in the Disgrace of Gij\u00f3n in Cameroon\u2019s favour would ensure that both Cameroon and their final Group C opponents, Burkina Faso would qualify for the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That bore win or any bore draw would have the same effect and there is nothing that the rival for the second third place qualification, South Africa, can do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That would mean a Disgrace of Gij\u00f3n in Algeria of all places. If, and I mean if, that happens, the organisers, the Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration Africaine de Football (CAF), must not follow FIFA\u2019s path 41 years ago. The integrity of football must prevail. There must be no Disgrace of Annaba!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 7th 2023) Que se besen, Que se Besen! (Let them kiss, Let them Kiss!) No Algerian \u2013 African even [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,17,14],"tags":[20,329,211,184,120,134,412,35,411,254,409,256,377,410],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3772,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions\/3772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}