Algeria from laughter to tears.
Or rather to the disappointment and anger of an entire nation.
Holders of the title and among the most serious contenders for their own succession, the Algerians came out the back door during the last African Cup of Nations.
Two defeats, a draw… and above all a zero point for the band of Djamel Belmadi.
"
Our players want to redeem themselves, in our country and in front of our people
," said a determined Greens coach.
They are ready for that, we have been preparing for it for two months
.
To discover
The 2022 World Cup play-off schedule
Even if the preparation was therefore not optimal in Cameroon, where Riyad Mahrez and company will have scored only a small goal, in the last match against Côte d'Ivoire (1-3), the worst total of the national team since 1992. “
It's a total failure
, summed up Belmadi after the elimination.
We weren't up to the competition
."
And a second absence of rank at the World Cup (Algeria was absent in Russia in 2018) would weigh down a little more the 2022 results of the selection, condemned to leave the Indomitable Lions, also absent in 2018 and therefore just as expected after their third final place at home in early February, but also for the first of their new coach, former defender Rigobert Song.
Read alsoSenegal, Egypt, Algeria: the CAN team notebook
“Superstition” and lawn in poor condition
And the first round of this electric barrage between the first two nations of the continent to have participated in a World Cup (1982) will take place in Cameroon this Friday (6 p.m.).
The Fennecs will therefore find a land that was so inhospitable to them in January.
So much so that Cameroon decided to host the first leg in Douala, at the Stade de Japoma… the very place where Algeria disappointed during the high mass of African football at the start of the year.
“
Cameroon plays in Yaoundé in general but exceptionally, they make us play in Japoma,
noted Belmadi.
They imagine that they are going to welcome a traumatized team, it is superstition.
We don't believe in superstitions, we are not traumatized by this stage.
We just want a good lawn.
»
Riyad Mahrez and his family will find the delicate lawn of the Stade de Japoma, in Douala.
Panoramic
Repainted to hide its poor condition before the match between Equatorial Guinea and Algeria (1-0), this lawn had been the subject of strong criticism on the sidelines of the last CAN.
“
We are traumatized by the lawn,
recalled the Algerian coach in early March.
They can say what they want, it's catastrophic.
But the stadium, the city… I'm not a tourist, I'm not going to Douala to visit, there are no monsters there.
This choice only increases our desire to play a big game there.
“What does the meadow matter, therefore:”
If the lawn is good … There is no history of trauma
".
The only trauma would be equivalent to a second absence in a row for the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup, where they had reached the knockout phase for the first time (eliminated by Germany, 2-1 ap).
Read alsoCAN: Belmadi's heavy silence after the inappropriate question of a Cameroonian journalist
Return of Guedioura, centerpiece in 2019
And to avoid a new disappointment, Belmadi made strong choices at the end of this failed CAN, ten elements of which paid the costs.
Discarded for the first time since Belmadi took office (2018), striker Baghdad Bounedjah, hero of the 2019 final against Senegal (1-0) is absent, along with wingers Yacine Brahimi and Said Benrahma , who now plays for West Ham.
In the middle, the Brestois Haris Belkebla and the nugget Adem Zorgane (22 years old, Charleroi) are also missing.
Assailed with questions about the latter's absence, Belmadi violently attacked a journalist at a press conference: "
It's a coach's choice.
You tell me that Zorgane deserved.
But do you know how to play football?
You don't have the physique of a footballer or even of a sportsman to say that he deserves!
" Atmosphere.
Read also“You are a journalist, not a meteorologist”: the lunar exchange in a press conference after Algeria-Serra Leone at the CAN (video)
This is the last possibility for some to play a World Cup
Djamel Belmadi
Appearing as annoyed as determined, Belmadi knows he is at the center of attention with this cleaver barrage.
Hence the desire to make daring choices, such as recalling Adlène Guedioura, who has just signed in the English third division (Burton) after a first season truncated by injuries.
Absent from the selection since last summer, the experienced midfielder (36 years old, 61 caps), centerpiece of the continental coronation in 2019, could bring his sobriety in the middle of the local nuggets, he who has regained his place of sentry during the set-up before the match.
Appreciated in selection, Guedioura would thus bring a rigor and a sense of duty which may have been lacking in the CAN.
"
Djamel Belmadi, who follows the line of Didier Deschamps on this subject, thus favors a player less good but irreproachable and capable of training, by his good will, the others
”, summarizes the specialized site
DZ Foot
.
At the time of a rebound expected by an entire country, the former PSG player has understood that he will not be able to rely solely on the talent of an exceptional generation, in the wake of a Mahrez who walks on water with Manchester City.
And a generation that must fully understand the urgency of the situation.
“
This is the last possibility for some to play a World Cup,
warned the architect of the Fennecs.
For others, it may also be the last chance to evolve with such a talented generation.
»
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