The Algerian National Team will host guests Serbia in an international friendly tomorrow evening at the 5 Juillet Stadium in Algiers, Algeria. With the 55,000 tickets to the game selling out in only 6 hours, the atmosphere in tomorrow's contest promises to be electric, as both sides prepare for the upcoming 2010 World Cup in just over 3 months time. Among the fans will be former World Cup winner, Zinedine Zidane, who is currently in his native Algeria along with members of the France 1998 World Cup winning team for a futsal tournament. Zidane is no stranger to the current team, having paid a visit to the Algerian squad prior to their departure to the 2010 African Cup in Angola.
Algeria will use tomorrow night's game to prepare for their opener at the World Cup against fellow former Yugoslav-republic Slovenia. Serbia, on the other hand, will use the friendly as a tune-up for their Group D counterparts: Germany, Australia and Ghana. While the Algerian players have trickled into camp over the last couple of days, the Serbian delegation arrived as a group on a chartered flight today.
Team News
The biggest story from the Algerian camp will be the debut of Racing Santander holding midfielder Mehdi Lacen. After a year of interviews and reports, Lacen has finally accepted the call to the team and should be starting tomorrow with Yazid Mansouri's injury. The only other major news will be whether the likes of Madjid Bougherra (injury) and Antar Yahia (wedding) will participate in the game. With Nacional's Rafik Halliche already confirmed as a scratch tomorrow, Saadane might have to rely on his bench against the likes of Zigic and Stankovic.
From the Serbian camp, head coach Radomir Antić will be without Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic, who remained with his club after recently returning from injury. He is the only player expected to miss tomorrow's game.
Probable line-ups
Algeria : Gaouaoui - Laifaoui, Bougherra, Yahia, Belhadj - Lacen, Yebda, Ziani, Matmour - Djebbour, Ghezzal
Serbia : Stojković - Ivanović, Luković, Subotić, Dragutinović - Stanković, Milijaš, Kuzmanović - Krasić, Jovanović - Žigić
Kick-off is scheduled for 7.15PM local time (1.15PM Eastern) and can be seen live on Canal Algerie
2 comments:
Two other teams from Group C of the World Cup will be going head-to-head with one another tomorrow night as England take on Egypt :-|. Oh you didn't hear???
LULz!
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