ALGERIA AT THE WORLD CUP

After a 24 year absence from the mundial, this will be the third attempt by the desert foxes (les fennecs) to advance into the knockout round. Surprisingly, the class of 2010 will have a similar face on the team-bus playing the same role as he did 24 years ago in Mexico, 64 year old Rabah Saâdane, aka “Cheik” (meaning the elder, the wise or the leader) in the dugout as the coach.
This is his 5th spell as coach since 1986 and the fact that he will be playing England, USA and Slovenia makes his job a bit more difficult. He will have to look for inspiration from their 1982 campaign (Yes, I was not born then, thank God for ESPN Classic and the internet) where they posted victories against West Germany and Chile (they were still eliminated in the first round) and the play-off game where they shed blood, sweat and tears to beat their perennial arch-rivals, Egypt to clinch their ticket to the first World cup to be held on African Soil.

The success of their qualification campaign can be attributed to their 100% home record; their away form on the other hand was nothing to write home about (no pun intended) where they could manage only 2 draws and a win (against Zambia) in 6 games at both stages of qualification. The terrible away form could have cost them their world cup ticket in Cairo where they could afford to lose (by one goal) and still qualify. After a 3rd minute Amir Zaki strike, the Algerians had to contain wave after wave of the Egyptian onslaught and this they successfully did this until the 95th minute when Emad Metaeb broke the hearts of the every Algerian including those of the travelling fans that risked their lives to be in the Cairo Stadium (the history is that bad). This took them into a play-off game in Khartoum, Sudan where the agility of young Faouzi Chaouchi kept them in the game with many great saves. The only goal of the game came five minutes from the interval, courtesy an Antar Yahia cracker confirming their place in South Africa 2010 at the expense of Egypt who many feel deserved the ticket more, why didn’t they win the match?.

The desert foxes will have to look up to their ever dependent solid defender Madjid Bougherra, Wolfsburg’s attacking midfielder Karim Ziani and captain Yazid Mansouri for inspiration. Hassan Yebda and Nadir Belhadj will have to put behind them the trials & tribulations of the 2009/2010 English Premier League campaign with Portsmouth and show the skills they posses to help the team’s efforts to advance into the knock-out rounds for the first time. Karim Matmour who is playing some good football in Borussia Monchengladbach (same team as USA’s Michael Bradley) will need to be amongst the goals to improve their chances.
While the “Cheik” sweats over the fitness of some of his top players, another major headache he has is in the selection of the man between the sticks which is a stiff competition between the experienced Lounes Gaouaoui, 32 who is struggling with form and fitness and the erratic Faouzi Chaouchi, 6 years younger. His (Chaouchi) ability is not in doubt but as he showed in the CAN in Angola that he doesn’t exactly have his temper in check, where he was sent off after various hideous offences including attacking the referee against Egypt. Maybe this decision, as well as Chaouchi’s temper can be helped by the great Zinedine Zidane (we have all seen his temper flare) who has come back to his country of birth to help prepare the team for the world cup, he might also be able to help Lazio's Mourad Meghni (former French U-17 player considered to be the next “Zidane”) improve of his game and explore the full potentials of his talent. These are not the only French imports negotiated by Saâdane, he has also called up 3 Algerian born French U-21 players into his provisional squad (3 of the 7 uncapped players called up).

In a group where they have been considered outsiders, the fact that they are a relatively unknown quantity in world football and that they do not have any shining stars might go in their favour. They play as a tight, compact unit, that try to catch opponents on the break and this might just give them an outside chance to progress into the 2nd round.

For now we can only wait till June 13 in Polokwane to see how well les fennecs have recovered from the shameful excuse for a game of football against Egypt in the CAN 2010.

My Verdict: Will they qualify? My heart says yes (I mean they are part of the African 6-pack) but my head says no. What do you have to say?

Goalkeepers: Fawzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Mbohi Rais Ouheb (Slavia Sofia/Bulgaria), Mohamed Amine Zemmamouche (Mouloudia Algiers)

Defenders: Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer/France), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth/England), Madjid Bougherra (Rangers/Scotland), Rafik Halliche (Nacional/Portugal), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio/France), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce/Italy), Anthar Yahia (VfL Bochum/Germany)

Midfielders: Djamel Abdoun (Nantes/France), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux/France), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton Wanderers/England), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes/France), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santander/Spain), Yazid Mansouri (FC Lorient/France), Mourad Meghni (Lazio/Italy), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth/England), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany)

Forwards: Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens/Greece), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena/Italy), Karim Matmour (Borussia Mönchengladbach/Germany), Rafik Saifi (Istres/France).