For his first press conference in 2023, Djamel Belmadi, as always, answered all questions from journalists without detours. He will focus his intervention on the newcomers, in particular Houssam Aouar on whom he rests his hopes to bring a big plus to the national team.
He also warned that Niger is not a weak team by tackling a former international. He returned to his relationship with the former president of the FAF Kheiredine Zetchi and a lot of other subjects. Enjoy!
“The selection is still open”
By summoning 6 new faces to his group, Djamel Belmadi has shown a real intention to shake up his team, which has been marking time lately. Moreover, many observers were impatiently awaiting Belmadi’s choices to make a declining team more competitive. “This list of players is long awaited. They urge me to take it out every time. You journalists and I do not have the same objectives”, he will specify from the outset. To back up his words, Djamel Belmadi added: “I don’t really calculate the duration of a player’s presence in EN, his presence at CAN 2019. On the other hand, I am looking for consistency each time with 4 or 5 FIFA dates, it is important to strike the right balance. The selection is always open, of course you have to earn it. Players arrive, others leave momentarily or not, only time will tell. We are not eternally satisfied. We always want to progress. “For the game project, the national coach explained:” My idea of having certain players is perhaps not completely accomplished. Some could help us in this direction. “Beating the recall of dual nationals, Belmadi reveals that he has been working on it for 4 years: “It is a sensitive subject. Without going into details, for Aouar and Ait Nouri, we started discussions with them four years ago. I know the reasons that delayed their decision to play with Algeria. Besides, I’ve always said that it was complicated to get them in EN. I don’t need to proclaim loud and clear the work we have done. These are 5 players who come, each has his story, they are specific individuals who do not have the same story. ” To better succeed his coup, he says he never wanted to publicize his contacts with these players: “Some prefer to pillory the discussions, the players in front of the people who are sensitive to this kind of subject. I preferred discretion. Some have spread the rumor that I, despite coming from the same background as them (he was trained at PSG), was going to refuse them. ” Delighted to be able to count dual nationals, Belmadi thinks: “For Bouanani, Hadjam, Chaibi, it’s going very quickly. To say that when we won CAN 2019, they were 15 or 16 years old, their eyes light up like children! »
“One of the dual nationals received at the same time a summons from France”
By gradually renewing its workforce with the presence of only 9 African champions, we are witnessing the advent of a new generation which should take over from their illustrious predecessors. However, this is not the opinion of the national driver: “We claim that it is a new policy that has been started. To me, that’s a lie. Those who arrive are in the same operation. We keep the same project with identical objectives, we keep the same modus operandi. This is also the speech that I held with them. Afterwards, the FAF took things in hand for the administrative side. Whether Hadjam, Chaibi or Bouanani, they are young people very attached to Algeria. ” Illustration, one of the dual nationals received a summons for this FIFA date (Jaouen Hadjam): “One of the new ones that we summoned for this internship received, a few days ago, another summons from the U23 and U20 of the Federation French. This is a first in the history of Algerian football. Before there was the late Ahmed Zitouni, Rachid Mekhloufi… who did the same thing. This element even expressed his disapproval to his employer. He has just shown a real desire to play for Algeria. »
