African semi-final: referee was behind Algeria’s elimination, says Belhadj

Defender Nadir Belhadj said Algeria’s elimination by Egypt from the Africa Cup of Nations does not reflect its level. “Future is still glorious for the Algerian players and preparation for the World Cup should begin just after the CAN.”

• What is your comment about the match?
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• If we told anybody in the street that the Algerian team lost the match against Egypt 4-0, he would not believe that. That means we are unbeatable or it impossible that the opponent could score four goals against us. Every thing is possible in football but the problem is how we lost. Egypt is a strong squad but it is not better than us.
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• The red card against Halliche was a turning point, wasn’t it?
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• It was. I believe that he does not deserve that because he did not make any mistake to be given a yellow card. Though we were few, we could face the Egyptians in the second leg.
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• Do you mean that the referee was behind your defeat?
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• Yes, he is because he made us out of the match with his wrong decisions. He had made us fell very down since he showed Halliche, me and Chaouchi a red card. That does not reduce the Egyptian squad’s value. They seized the opportunity and won the match.
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• But four goals are tough a little bit…
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• A defeat by four goals in an African semi-final match is very tough for any squad but it was with the help of the referee. I believe that the Egyptians should have won by more than four goals because we were not on the pitch. The referee made us totally out. If none of us was shown a red card, we would have won. At present, we do not have any choice rather than thinking in future. We do not have any thing to be ashamed for it because everyone in the world watched the match and the refereeing.
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• Will Saturday’s third place play-off at the Africa Cup of Nations be just formal or will you do your best?
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• As far as we are concerned, the African Cup has not finished yet. We must win the play-off. I wish I was not shown a red card because I want to play the highest possible number of matches with my teammates.
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• Don’t you think that the CAN was a good test for you before the World Cup?
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• In addition to the match against Nigeria, we played six matches before the World Cup. I believe that they are enough to create more harmony among us as players. The FIFA will give us the opportunity to play a friendly on March 3rd. That’s not enough for a World Cup qualifier. I believe that the CAN is the best preparation for the World Cup.
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• What could you say to the Algerian people?
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• I am very proud of the Algerian fans especially those who came to Banguela to support us. I was sorry for them as we could not bring joy to them due to the referee. Anyway, our fans know that we did and we will do our best to make them satisfied. Sometimes, we loose control on the situation as it happened against Egypt. Refereeing mistakes played a big role in our elimination. Anyway, it is not the end of the world. We should forget about that and start thinking about the World Cup.