Algerian coach Rabah Saadane : I’m happy for my country

25 years after Mexico’s World Cup, the coach Rabah Saadane has come back again to this prestigious competition that will take place in South Africa. Things have changed a lot since but his ambition remained intact.

• Few minutes after the draw that took place in Cap Town, the coach couldn’t help to hide his happiness and declared bluntly” I’m happy because Algeria is in the World Cup… he stopped for a while and launched: let’s start the interview.
• Q: How do you feel few moments after the draw?,
• A: I’m overwhelmed because my country is in the world Cup again; I’ve a special feeling because I’ve succeeded to spread happiness among my fellow citizens somehow and that means that I’ve fulfilled my duty towards  my country.
• Q: do you fee more relax after the qualification of the national squad to the World Cup?
• A: definitely, because in the beginning we ere only talking about the qualification to the African cup of Nations, but after the big achievement from the players and the technical staff our ambition grew and started thinking about the World Cup which added more pressure on everyone.
• Q: Do you consider that the Algeria squad had a favourable draw as they are going to play United states and Slovenia?.
• A: I wasn’t expecting a gift from the draw because I know that all the teams that qualified to the world Cup are valuable. Modern football doesn’t recognize the old standards; that means that all the squads can turn the situation upside down.
• Q: Do you consider that Algeria is luckier in comparison to other African nations like Ivory Coast for instance?
• A: that’s true but nobody is certain about anything in football, we are facing strong teams and we have to adapt to the reality of the moment.
• Q: Let’s talk about the Greens’ components; England, the United States and Slovenia are unknown… do you for instance apprehend to play England?
• A: We respect everybody and do not fear anyone, this is Football’s law.  England is a big team coached by the great Capello; this is enough for me to say that this squad has become a strong team over the last few years. Don’t forget that England posses top class players though they didn’t win the trophy since 1966, they remain the favourite among others.
• Q: Can we consider that the Greens have started their psychological preparation for the World Cup?
• A: That’s a good question, let me tell you that I have started thinking about the matter already but things do not go this way and you cannot help thinking about the World Cup even if you trued hard not to do it.
• Q: Does this mean your are concerned by the players… what would be your message to them, are you going to talk about the World Cup draw?
• A: We are going through a delicate phase which requires from us lot of concentration. We are still bearing the stigma of the previous matches and here we are in Cap Town for the preparation of the World cup.
• Q: It seems that time is running out and so does patience?
• A: Do you imagine that four weeks are left for the African Cup of Nations. This competition is our priority and it’s hard to play on two fronts in such a tight period of time.
• Q: How are you going to deal with the players?
• A: We have no choice and we are going to take our responsibilities even if I’m not convinced by the fact to organize the African Cup of Nations the same year as the World Cup
• Q: Do you consider the African Cup competition as secondary in comparison to the World cup or is it one of your priorities?
• A: When we started our adventure with this team, we fixed the goal to reach the African Cup of Nations in Angola and thanks God we succeeded; today our ambition has grown and we are in the world Cup that’s great but this doesn’t mean that we have abandoned our initial goal, especially that we missed this competitions twice in a row.