Algerian Coach: “There Was Too Much Interference With the National Team”

Coach Djamel Belmadi blames outside interference for the failings of Algeria’s national team in the international stage.

“There was no healthy team spirit. Some of the team executives had too much control. There was no competition internally. It was practically out of the ordinary and we had to redo everything. When you find habits like these, you have to find the formula to break it,” he says.

Four-time winner of the Qatar Premier League title, the former Southampton attacker got appointed to the Desert Foxes’ hot-seat last August before guiding the North African outfit past the qualifiers.

He came at a time when the Algerian squad were longing for identity having missed out on the World Cup and in him, they seem to have found one.

Top on the to-do list of the 43-year-old is the Africa Cup of Nations as he looks to ensure Algeria return to the big times in Cairo.

“We are not going there to make up the numbers. The CAN is a valuable competition which will push players to go forward,” he told an Algerian Arabic publication prior to leaving for Qatar for camping.

Algeria begin their AFCON campaign with a match against Kenya on June 23^rd at the Air Defence Stadium.