World football governing body FIFA ordered Egypt on Friday to step up security for a key World Cup qualifier with Algeria after fans injured three away players being bussed to the team hotel.
  
FIFA said the match will go ahead so long as it gets a written pledge from the Egyptians that they will take whatever measures are needed to protect the Algerian squad.
  
One FIFA representative, Walter Gagg, confirmed to AFP that three Algerian players had sustained injuries which may yet rule them out of Saturday's showdown, which is likely to decide which of the bitter North African rivals advances to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.
  
"We saw that three players had been injured -- Khaled Lemmouchia on the head, Rafik Halliche above the eye and Rafik Saifi on the arm," Gagg said. "These weren't superficial injuries," he stressed. "With the stitches needed, we will have to see if these players can play. The team doctor has still to make a decision on that."
  
Gagg said Algeria's goalkeeping coach had suffered concussion, and described the bus itself as in a very bad way with broken windows and traces of blood on the floor. "The players were afraid. They were terrified," he said.
  
The FIFA delegate said the governing body held urgent consultations after the incident and even the two presidents, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika were involved, talking to each other by telephone.
  
FIFA said in a statement it had contacted the Egyptian Football Association and the national authorities to demand "written guarantees that confirm the implementation of necessary additional safety and security measures... for the Algerian delegation."
  
Gagg's report of events contrasted with that of the Egyptian police, who insisted none of the Algerian players had been injured by the stone-throwing, and even more so with those of the Egyptian press which charged that the whole incident was a fabrication.
  
The Algerian press carried front-page pictures of the injured players. The French-language El Watan newspaper showed a photograph of midfielder Lemmouchia's bloodied head with the headline "After the ambush against the Greens." The paper said it thought it unlikely that Saturday's game would be cancelled because of the injuries to the players but suggested that the Egyptian federation might be fined.
  
But Egyptian newspapers insisted Algerian players had faked the whole incident, further inflaming the atmosphere despite appeals from the Egyptian authorities in the build-up to the game for responsible coverage.
  
Leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram said it was the Algerian players, not stone-throwers, who had caused the damage to the bus. "The bus carrying the team from the airport to the hotel was at the centre of a strange incident in which some of the players started to smash the vehicle's windows claiming that they were the target of stone-throwing," the paper reported.
  
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki had told the media they should "work to maintain the strong ties between both countries and should not fuel disagreements that are unrelated to sports and sportsmanship."
  
Around 70,000 Egyptians are expected to pack the stadium on Saturday. Around 2,000 tickets have been allocated to Algerian fans. Algeria can afford to lose the game by a one-goal margin and still qualify for the World Cup. A two-goal defeat would force a decider in Khartoum on November 18 while Egypt can go through if it wins by three goals.
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