ZILCH. SIFR. NUL. Zero the ex-act number of the 24 FIFA execu-tive committee votes that Egypt won in its bid to host the 2010 World Cup of football.

To no ones surprise, South Africa was the victor, nudging out Morocco by a final tally of 14:10 after Tunisia dropped out of the race at the last minute and Libya was disqualified for failing to meet the bidding criteria. According to many international analysts, South Africa was a virtual shoe-in to win before the bidding even began after it lost its bid to host the 2006 Cup to Germany in a voting process tainted by accusations of bribery.

As for Moroccos surprise finish, which came after the FIFA inspection committee effectively ranked Egypt second behind South Africa in a report leaked the week before the vote? Emotions, the analysts say, played a role here, too: While South Africa was rewarded for a loss four years ago and for 10 years as a stable, model African democracy, Morocco won 10 votes for having thrice bid and failed to win the hosting rights.

But as the recriminations fly in the Peoples Assembly and MPs demand an investigation, Alaa Sadek, the nations top football commentator and sports analyst, says there was a lesson to be learned from the earlier FIFA 2006 vote, a lesson lost on Egypt. Bribery, Sadek says, is an essential part of the FIFA bidding process.

Bribery gives you an edge, Sadek says. It is not the only thing. You must have good relations with FIFA, good stadiums and infrastructure, which Egypt has. But without bribery you cannot win.

In the contest for the 2006 hosting rights, Sadek explains, there was bribery taking place right up until the last moment. Everyone is aware of this. Charlie Dempsey from New Zealand walked out of the vote at the last second. If he didnt, the vote would have gone to South Africa.

Michael Probst/Associated Press Omar Sharif flew to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland to support Egypt’s bid.

Just before the vote, which took place in July 2000, Dempsey, then president of the Oceania Football Confederation, chose to abstain despite his confederation having instructed him to vote for South Africa. That gave Germany a 12-11 victory instead of tying things up at 12 apiece, which would have put the decision in FIFA President Sepp Blatters hands. Blatter had made no secret of the fact that he favored South Africa.

Dempsey has always maintained that he never accepted bribes, telling the press that he abstained from voting due to intolerable pressure. But just days after the vote, under pressure from his confederation, Dempsey announced that he was resigning his position, two years before his contract was set to expire.

For its part, FIFA opened an investigation into the allegations of wrongdoing, but closed the file within hours, clearing both the Germans and Dempsey.

Sadek says that the bribery many allege took place during the 2006 vote is one of the more extreme examples of how the FIFA selection process can be influenced, and he is not suggesting that Egypt should have engaged in similar actions.

Rather, Sadek says, it is the accepted and out-in-the-open type of bribery perhaps better referred to as incentives that Egypt should have initiated. These can take many forms, which Sadek says in Egypts case should have meant awarding lucrative stadium building contracts to the appropriate companies in an attempt to influence the voting.

As Sadek explains, three of the 24 members of the FIFA executive committee work with major construction companies. These are the members from South Korea, Japan and Mexico. If we awarded their companies our new stadium construction projects, then we should have had these votes.

Sadek says that Egypt also erred by not engaging with the FIFA executive committee over the course of the bidding process to continuously market Egypt as the best candidate for the 2010 event.

Instead, Sadek says, Egypt spent too much of its time lobbying and marketing itself internally. Egypts bid committee spent the first eight to nine months of the bidding process convincing people in Egypt that we are ready to host the World Cup. This was a waste of time.

But none of this is to say that Egypt didnt give it the old college try. And theres always next time. Thanks to FIFAs new rotation policy, which guarantees the World Cup will land on a different continent every four years, Egypt will get another shot in 2030.

Should give us plenty of time to work on our logo. et