ALGERIA VS EGYPT 2010 AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS SEMI FINAL TIPS

This is probably the most demonstrably-fiery rivalry in International football at the moment and I’m really hoping that the two teams, and their sets of fans, do this tournament proud by not letting things get out of hand again. It was a fairly disgraceful site at the end of the World Cup play-off match when the fans began rioting and you would have thought that war was on the verge of breaking out.  
Regardless, we expect this match to be played in good competitive spirit. Egypt are going in as very heavy-favourites with a 6/5 listing at Ladbrokes against Algeria’s 5/2 price. You’ll find the 90 minute draw trading at 21/10 and that’s basically a bet for extra time.
In terms of outright qualification, Egypt are priced quite short at 8/13 while Algeria can be picked up at 6/5. The correct score markets indicate that the bookies favour a drawn match with 0-0 and 1-1 both priced at 5/1. You don’t see this very often, usually the 1-1 draw is always given an edge. You’ll also find 1-0 Egypt at 5/1 which bodes well for their chances. Against a side like Algeria, who have shown that they can beat big teams, I don’t think that one goal will be enough to beat them, so I would skew a bit closer to 2-1 Egypt at 8/1 or even 2-1 Algeria, which trades at a 10/1 price.
The really interesting thing here for me is the fact that Algeria are listed at a slim 3/2 to win or draw with 2 or fewer goals being scored in the match. Egypt are 5/2 to win with 2 or fewer goals scored in the match. I think that could be a solid bet for Algerian fans as it is priced out fairly well. Effectively, with that selection you’re betting against a high-scoring match, which I think favours Algeria. Egypt will win a goal bonanza any day of the week, but Algeria do get the edge in a lower-scoring and tighter affair.
Mohamed Nagy Gado is the favoured first goalscorer at 5/1 with Emad Motaeb and Mohamed Zidan both listed at 6/1. Ahmed Raouf can be backed at 7/1 while Abdelkader Ghezzal, Rafik Saifi and Abdelmalik Ziaya are all trading at 8/1.
I think this match could really go either way if both teams show up with their best stuff on offer. I think a higher-scoring match favours Egypt while, if the result is 1-0, it should be going in Algeria’s direction. Keep your eyes open for an early goal to spice things up.