Algeria vs Africa II: Algeria vs…………Algeria?

November 16th, 2011 | by: Kazi | Comments Off

Sayoud and Abeid paving the way....

So, 3 games, 1 draw and 2 wins. Halilhodzic is on the right road with this project of his. I am now close to 100% satisfied with the FAF’s choice in him. He turned a dejected, clueless, luck-riding team into a working, cohesive unit. But the job is by no means even close to done. Even he says it; “Algeria right now is at 60%, it will take us about a year to get to 90%” and I am willing to wait. I don’t expect a consistent set of victories without losing, so long as we progress each and every game.

Anyway, thank God for Halilhodzic. Hopefully he sticks with it and we go on long and prosperous. Who knows, we might end up having 2 silver stars on the shirt by 2014…

Back to the match.

A scrappy match in the most part, but that was to be expected with such a poor pitch. Fouling quite a lot on both sides, but what was good to see is that the amount of fouls we committed had decreased since the last match.

What was not good to see was the use of the widely inaccurate long ball again. But that may have come about because of the state of the pitch.

But before I go any further; player ratings:

• Zemmamouche: 4/10 – Didn’t have much to deal with, but what he was given he dealt with shakily, and wasn’t always assured. Left it late to release balls and put the team under pressure on occasion. Was subbed off at half time for Doukha.
• Belhadj: 5/10 – Better from Belhadj. Going forward he was close to his usual self, but he was often found being wasteful, and his dead ball deliveries left us wanting. Defensively, he needed to be more aware, otherwise he’s not going to trouble Mesbah for the left-back position.
• Yahia: 7/10 – An assured performance from the captain in his first game since that shocking Morocco match. He dealt with everything and dealt with everything with ease and a cool head. Good to see that playing in Saudi hasn’t done much damage to his abilities.
• Medjani: 5/10 – Practically invisible next to his Captain, but still efficient. Required on occasion to cover for a poor Meftah and covered well. Put his height and strength to good use making many a clearance and strong tackle.
• Meftah: 3/10 – Was shaky at the very least. Going forward was far better than staying back for him, but even that wasn’t great. Was a liability which Tunisia should have tried to exploit more than they did. Replaced by Hachoud at the very end.
• Lacen: 6/10 – A rock in the middle, and spread the ball well. I get tired of saying it but it was a typical Lacen performance in an Algeria shirt. He knows what he has to do and simply gets it done. Can be happy with his input.
• Lemmouchia: 6/10 – Far more defensively minded than both Lacen and Yebda, and made no fuss about his job. Made good strong tackles and held the ball well and released it in the same fashion. Efficiency is his forte, and that’s what the Usmiste brought to the game today.
• Yebda: 6/10 – A strong offensive performance down the middle for Yebda, who used his strength and stride to power past opponents. Provided good passes and was a constant offensive threat using his height and power against the Tunisian defence. Was subbed off for Guedioura.
• Ghilas: 4/10 – Not great. Had a few good touches but like Belhadj ended up ruining plays on the left hand side. Provided the corner that ended up at Boudebouz’s feet but still isn’t enough to justify a higher score. He has pace but didn’t use it, and decision making was poor. Was subbed off for Bouazza
• Boudebouz: 8/10 – A nutmeg and penalty claim in the first 2 minutes. Then we have that belter of a goal. Ryad’s best game in an Algeria shirt culminated in him gaining his first goal for his country. He was clearly delighted and even went for the Usain Bolt celebration. His mesmeric close control of the ball and his ability to keep the ball at his feet even at pace was evident, and more often than not had to be fouled to be stifled. Was subbed off for Tedjar.
• Soudani: 7/10 – If there was anyone who deserved a goal throughout the match, it was this lad. He worked tirelessly both on and off the ball, winning many a free kick and pressuring the opposition defence time after time. Showed really good pace and his one shot that went off fizzed past the woodwork but was a sign of things he could achieve. Deserves a recall. Was subbed off for Aoudia.

Substitutions:
• Doukha: 5.5/10 – Far more assured than Zemmamouche, and showed he was a capable replacement for the number one keeper M’Bolhi. When he came out for the ball he got to it first. One scary moment where it took an acrobatic Yahia to save him.
• Hachoud: N/A – No real time to make an impact, but was concentrated enough to contribute in defending a last ditch offensive from the Tunisians.
• Guedioura: 5/10 – Wasn’t much of a positive change from Yebda, attempted another screamer, but unfortunately this one wasn’t anywhere near as close as the Tanzania one. Looks like the blessing of Blida fell upon him just the once.
• Bouazza: 6/10 – A much stronger player than Ghilas and was more effective going forward. Had quite a few chances at goal but unfortunately none nestled. A good impact sub and another good showing.
• Aoudia: N/A – No real impact to call upon. Showed good movement but got a head wound within a few minutes and became (surprising considering the bandages) less visible during play.

A highly experimental squad fielded by Vahid, no doubt in part due to the fact that so many of the players have been injured. Feghouli and Matmour should play tomorrow against Cameroon whereas Ziani, Djabou, Mesbah, Ghezzal, M’Bolhi and Djebbour will not play any part in the next game either.

The team dominated throughout many parts of the match, keeping the ball and applying good pressure on the Tunisians. However the play was unbelievable scrappy, with long balls the order of the day. No doubt the state of the pitch had a major factor in this, and should be made something to attend to. For too long we’ve been going out on these pitches and the team can never play the way they want.

As for the offensive part of the game, we looked far more threatening than we did against RCA. We didn’t create as many chances, but the impetus was there, no doubt helped by the re-introduction of Boudebouz and Soudani, whose tireless running never left the opposition at ease. Ghilas was there but wasn’t so helpful, spurning a good chance and wasting a few opportunities. Yebda once again was a big contributor to the team offensively, using his strength and stride to great effect.

With regards to the defensive front, I’m pleasantly surprised we managed to stifle the threats of Allagui and Dhaouadi so well. Of course we had a few scary moments, but otherwise, we did quite well. Good to see Yahia back to his old impenetrable ways.

With that first match out of the way, we could look forward to the Cameroon match with cautious optimism. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be the case. Eto’o and co refused to travel to Algeria on the grounds of FECAFOOT not paying them bonuses. Who is at fault in this remains up for discussion, whether the players wanted too much for something they should want to do regardless of pay, or whether the Federation should have paid it’s players when they asked for it. Regardless, this showed a complete lack of respect for the Algerian national team, the Algerian Football Federation, and the companies who have lost quite a lot of money from this. No doubt Raouraoua will follow up on his threat of reporting to FIFA with the intent of all parties being reimbursed for their losses. FECAFOOT could also be looking at a potential suspension if FIFA is in a particularly grim mood.

But the match wasn’t cancelled completely, Halilhodzic and the FAF used the opportunity to further repay the fans who were disappointed in missing out on what should have been a good game, by arranging an intra-squad match that was free entry to all, on top of refunding all those who bought tickets to watch the cancelled game. Going out of their way to apologise for something that wasn’t their fault.
It can’t be said the gala match was taken too seriously, even with the official fanfare, it was still just a training game, that only lasted 70 minutes. You could see the players struggling to contain laughter as the two sides, White and Green, lined up and shook hands.

The score ended 4-1 to the White team, Kadir getting the goal for the Greens and Soudani with two, and Bouchouk and Ghilas making up the other goals. The teams were mixed up a little at half time, with Boudebouz replacing Feghouli, who was having trouble settling with the horrific pitch despite setting up Kadir’s goal, switching from the Whites to the Greens. Bouchouk then took Boudebouz’s place on the Whites and thoroughly made the most of it, repaying Halilhodzic’s trust in selecting him for the squad, getting a goal and two assists. The pitch didn’t seem to hamper him or Soudani. Both defenses were quite clearly not taking the game so seriously, possibly on instruction from the manager to avoid injury to the players. There was a fright with Boudebouz which thankfully, turned out to be a false alarm.

All in all, a decent make up for what should have been a good test against a top African side.

But with the state of the pitch, maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t come. The FAF really needs to make that a priority now, because it’s getting out of hand.

I would end here but I want to focus on the U23’s, who beat South Africa once more 2-0, with goals from Chalali and Aouedj repeating the scoreline from the weekend. Virtually the same line up except for Belaili starting in place of Benaldjia.

Here is the squad list for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers:

01 MAZOUZI Sid Ahmed
02 DAHMANE Hamza
03 BENMALEK Boualem
04 KHELILI Sofiane
05 BITAM Abderrezak
06 ZITI Mohamed Khoutir
07 BENLAMARI Djamel Eddine
08 ALI GUECHI Abdelaziz
09 CHAFAI Farouk
10 BELKHITER Mokhtar
11 ANANE Merouane
12 DAOUD Farid
13 ABEID Mahdi
14 SAYOUD Amir
15 TOUAHRI Amine
16 BENALDJIA Mahdi
17 AOUADJ Sid Ahmed
18 BELAILI Mohamed Youcef
19 HAMROUN Jugurtha
20 CHALALI Mohamed
21 BOUNEDJAH Baghdad

One needs to remember, that if this is to form the base of the final Olympic Squad, then we need to cut from the side 3 players (No doubt one Goalkeeper, one Forward and one Midfielder/ two Forwards and one Goalkeeper). Also remember the returns of Essaid Belkalem (hopefully) and Brahim Bedbouda into the squad, which will add to the conundrum.

But we must not get carried away, we still have a very tough group to qualify from, consisting of two teams who have been playing well throughout the qualification process, and one team with whom we are well acquainted but still need to be wary of.

• 27/11/2011 – Algeria vs Senegal
• 30/11/2011 – Morocco vs Algeria
• 03/04/2011 – Nigeria vs Algeria

Considering we at least qualify from this group, we must finish at least 3rd in the tournament in order to guarantee our place at the Olympics. 4th place will mean we have to go into a play-off against the 4th placed Asian team, and we don’t need that. Les Espoirs Vert know they have what it takes to win the tournament, particularly with players like Sayoud, Benaldjia, Abeid and Hamroun providing the offensive supply, Khelili and Guechi holding up the rear, and forwards like Bounedjah and Chalali, who in 11 games for the U23’s, he has scored 9 times, 3 of them, coming against none other than Senegal.

Insha Allah, if they play as well as we know they can, than they can achieve great things, both winning this tournament and going on to do well in the Olympics.