“We showed that Algeria’s qualification to WC is deserved,” says Nadir Belhadj

Algeria's Nadir Belhadj said the qualification of his national squad to the quarter finals is deserved. “The Desert Foxes were not in complicity with Angola into Mali’s disqualification as some people think,” he told Echorouk.

• You qualified to the quarter finals after you had lost a match against Malawi. What can you say about that?
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• Actually, we were affected by the defeat because we were not expecting that. Anyway, all the conditions were against us starting from the pitch temperature and humidity.
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• But you were at ease in the second half as you had heard that Mali were winning over Malawi with two goals. The same thing happened to Angola because a draw would be good for the two squads, right?
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• That’s true. In the beginning of the match, we wanted to win just to qualify to quarter finals. Everyone noticed the difference between the first and the second half. In the first 45 minutes, we were playing in a strong way and each squad tried to score. As were going to the changing room, we heard that Mali were the winner 2-0 over Malawi. We were happy as a draw qualifies us. The same thing was for Angola. Because of that, we tried to just run the match in the second half.
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• Fans who were in the stadium were not convinced by the way you were playing. They believe the two squads wanted to finish by a draw 0-0.
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• That’s right. In the last minutes, we did not want to run a risk especially that the score of Mali-Malawi match did not change. I understand the Algerian fans who wanted us to win and top Group A. Yet, the interest of the two squads needed that. If some people think that were in complicity against a certain squad, they are wrong. If any squads were in our situation, they would have done the same thing.
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• Since you managed to reach the quarter finals, can you qualify to the semi finals?
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• We are more motivated than ever and we can face any squad. We overcame the first difficult step by beating Mali. Our qualification shows that we are a big squad and our qualification to the World Cup is deserved.
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• What about your move to Portuguese league leaders Benfica?
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• There is no official offer from Benfica. It is a big squad and I can not reject such a deal.