Saadane Drops Players Ahead of World Cup

Head coach Rabah Saadane dropped a number of players from the Algerian National Team as he continues his preparation for the upcoming World Cup. In an interview with state radio, Saadane announced the exclusion of goalkeeper Nassim Ousserir (CR Belouizdad), central defender Samir Zaoui (ASO Chlef) and full-backs Slimane Raho (ES Sétif) and Réda Babouche (MC Alger). He also ruled out a return for Yacine Bezzaz (RC Strasbourg) who is still weeks away from fully recovering from an injury he suffered at the African Cup of Nations, and addded that he is also considering dropping Blackpool winger Hameur Bouazza along with 3 other unnamed European-based players. Saadane explained that the dropped players were not good enough to play at the World Cup and that they will be replaced by more capable players.

Although he did not give a complete list of players that are in the running to be included for the World Cup, he did mention the likes of Lazhar Hadj Aïssa (ES Sétif) and Rabie Meftah (JS Kabylie) and said that both will be considered if they continue their good form. Various sources in the media have also added the names of goalkeepers Mickaël Fabre (Clermont Foot) and Raïs M'Bolhi (Slavia Sofia), full-backs Mohamed Chakouri (Charleroi SC) and Walid Cherfa (Gimnàstic de Tarragona), and midfielder Ryad Boudebouz (FC Sochaux).

While its hard to argue with the decision to drop Ousserir, Zaoui and Raho, it remains to be seen how players that have played the bulk of their careers in leagues such as the Belgian league, Bulgarian League, France's Ligue 2 and the Spanish Segunda División are any more qualified to play at a World Cup. At least a player like Slimane Raho can boast about his rich experience, having participated in the African Cup of Nations 3 times, winning the CAF Cup 3 times with JS Kabylie, winning the Arab Champions League twice with ES Sétif, winning the domestic league 4 times, etc.. Walid Cherfa, on the other hand, has a played a grand total of 32 professional games, 28 of them coming in the Spanish second division, and only 25 of those as a starter. Raïs M'Bolhi, who is starting for Slavia Sofia in the first division this season, never played any meaningful minutes for a top flight team and was playing in the Japanese 3rd division with FC Ryūkyū just last season. Finally, Mohamed Chakouri rejected call-ups for Algeria's youth teams and said he was hoping to catch the eye of France's head coach Raymond Domenech when he joined Charleroi, I wonder if he feels disappointed that he only caught Saadane's eye ..

What is also troubling is the timing of Saadane's decision. Did the friendly against Serbia, where Ousserir and Babouche did not participate and Zaoui only played 8 minutes, convince him that the players were not good enough or did he reach that conclusion prior to it? Given that 3 of the 4 drooped players did not play any real role in the Serbia game, it is safe to assume that Saadane had his mind made up prior to the game. This begs the question, why did he not drop them prior to the game and try out some new faces? In fact, Saadane chose to call up only 20 players for that game as opposed to the usual 23, meaning he could have played it safe by keeping them on the team and handing out call-ups to some new players.

Long story short, while many agree that some of the dropped players are not good enough to play at a World Cup, question's still have to be asked about Saadane's handling of the situation. The mistimed announcement and mediocre replacements bring back memories of Algeria's failed 1986 World Cup campaign .. let us just hope that the 2010 edition will bring about a different ending to the story.