The build-up to the African Cup of Nations 2017 is gathering steam, and with practice friendlies already underway, many eyes are on the look out for leading contenders for the title. the Algerian national team, fondly known as Les Fennecs are definitely among them. They breezed through qualification with a squad filled to the brim with talent and fans’ expectations are at an all-time high since their only previous triumph in this tournament was in 1990.
Manager Georges Leekens will be looking to take the team all the way in his second spell in charge of the national team, after previously having resigned prior to the start of this tournament in 2004.
Here are five reasons the trophy could be going home with the Desert foxes this year.
#5 A familiar path to the semi-finals
Algeria have been drawn in group B with Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe – a group they are expected to win. While Tunisia have been bogey opponents for Algeria in the recent past, coach Henryk Kasperczak practices a pragmatic approach playing with five defenders, meaning it could turn into a case of Algeria’s attack vs their defence – a dangerous game to play.
Senegal and Zimbabwe are expected to be beaten with the former having lost their last 3 meetings with Algeria and never having beaten them in the African Cup of Nations.
Progress as winners from this group means facing off against the runners up of group A, which includes hosts Gabon as a ‘pot 1’ team, meaning the only real threat comes from Cameroon who are likely to end up winners of their group. Algeria will expect to make it at least till the semi-finals.
#4 Islam Slimani and El Arbi Hillel Soudani
At 28 and 29 years of age, Slimani & Soudani are 6th and 7th on the list of all-time highest goalscorers for the national team. What’s remarkable though is the rate at which both score goals – Slimani’s 23 in 47 games & Soudani’s 21 in 39 games – implying that on average Algeria are virtually assured a goal per game.
Soudani’s consistency is remarkable as seen by his 45 goals in 92 league appearances for current club Dinamo Zagreb and the 7 goals he scored in 6 qualifiers to be the top scorer. Slimani wasn’t far behind with 4 goals himself, and this deadly duo will form the backbone of Algeria’s hopes.
#3 Riyad Mahrez’s free kicks
As any fan of the Premier League knows by now, there are few players in the world today better at set-pieces than Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez. Having bagged 2 goals in qualification and currently enduring a tough follow-up season with the Foxes after their title winning run with his club, there’s no doubt he’ll be eager to express and assert himself on this tournament.
In addition to weaving runs and ability to cross the ball with pinpoint accuracy, his free kicks are the stuff of dreams and could make the difference when taking on a stubborn defensive side such as Tunisia.
#2 Best squad since the golden generation of Rabah Madjer and Lakhdar Belloumi
Even with Sofiane Feghouli and Carl Medjani – both regulars for the national team – being omitted from the final squad for this tournament, Algeria do not lack star power as Yacine Brahimi, Nabil Bentaleb and Faouzi Ghoulam line-up alongside the aforementioned Mahrez, Slimani and Soudani.
In fact, expectations of this squad are so high that the failure to win either of their first two FIFA WC 2018 qualifiers has resulted in outrage among fans.
With a side burgeoning with quality, it’ll be up to Leekens to get the balance right & justify his decision to omit the established stars.
#1 Top goalscorers in qualifying
Algeria were so dominant in qualifying – scoring 25 goals – that their goal difference of +20 was still 4 more than the number of goals any other nation even managed to score.
With only 11 of those goals coming from their 2 main strikers, braces by 4 players and a solitary goal for another 6, they had a total of 12 different scorers – indicating that everyone on the pitch is a goal threat.
If they manage to recapture their form from qualifying, Algeria could well be on their way to a second AFCON title.
