Football/ Hosseim Hassen: “Zidane is the pride of Algeria and all the Arabs as well”

The former Egyptian international Hossem Hassen is regarded as one of the best Arab players of all time, his seven participations at the African Cup of Nations competition remain a record to date. Echorouk’s Nassim Lekhal moved to his office in the dead of the night to interview the man who barred the way to the 1990 world cup finals for the Algerian squad in a return high risk match at Cairo stadium.

• Q: Your name is associated in Algeria to the match that took place in 1990 and the decisive goal that qualified Egypt for the first time in its history to the world cup in Italy; don’t you think that the goal was scored after an assault on the Algerian goalkeeper Kadri?
• A: As I’m concerned for me the goal was valid and didn’t touch anybody, and after all the subject is over for me especially that the Tunisian referee didn’t notice the assault.. Actually I have done my very best to score in this math and offer my country a historical qualification to this prestigious competition, by contrast to Algeria that participated twice before… Still it remains one of the best memories in my life especially that we beat the great Algerian squad which comprised at that time the best African stars like lakhdar Belloumi, Rabah Madjer and Salah Assad.
• Q: After the match skirmishes broke out and gave birth to the so called “Belloumi affair” who was accused of assault on the Egyptian team’s doctor, nearly 20 years after to this event the case is still pending despite the fact that Belloumi denies these allegations because he out of the hotel at the moment of the facts… Don’t you think that this pending case is one of the reasons among many that deteriorated the Algerian- Egyptian football relationships?
•  A: Sportily speaking the case is closed in Egypt because it has become a legal issue, but I think that the slowness in settling the problem at the very beginning was the cause in transforming it to an issue afterwards, and the doctor could have easily withdrawn the complaint if he was approached at the beginning especially that the case involves a people we cherish a lot but absence of dialogue from the onset made that the case grew to a legal issue. And I would like to add something, as players we ere not aware that the problem was pending and if we were asked to intervene we could have settled it immediately, though I’m ready to do my very best to reach a happy end because Lakhdar Belloumi remains a symbol for us.
• Q: You are the contemporary of the Algerian football golden generation, who was the one who marked you the most?
• A: Believe there are many and don’t want to mention the names for fear to omit anybody.. But who of us can forget players like Rabah Madjer, Lakhdar Belloumi and Salah Assad known as the “lion” and I don’t want to forget the strong defender Fodhil Megharia and Cherif Al Ouezani and even the players whom I didn’t get the chance to meet on the pitch who honored the Arabs in the 1982 World Cup when they crushed the German ogre. The Algerian world class performance at this competition made us love the Algerian football particularly. Madjer’s goal with the heal at the final of the European Champion’s League with FC Porto remains a landmark bearing his name.
•  Q: What do you think of the current generation of the Algerian footballers; don’t you think that those stars can make the difference in this kind of competitions?
• A: Yes indeed, the Algerian team possesses top class players who play in the big European clubs and this not new for the Algerian football that it is used to produce the best players either inside or outside the country. And frankly speaking, I can say that history is repeating itself and the Algerian football is about to get back on track, but I think that the Algerian squad still need to work harder to reach harmony between the players.
• Q: Taking into account these data, don’t you think its inappropriate to pronounce about the outcome of the upcoming fixture between Egypt and Algeria counting for the qualifying matches for the world cup in south Africa?
• A: I’m against prognostics in football, the best on the pitch can make the difference in these matches, in theory the Egyptian squad is currently one of the best African teams because it’s the African champions for the send time in a row, its strength lies in its stability at all levels as to the Algerian squad, as a I said earlier it is going crescendo that’s why one has not to exclude surprise.
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• Q: Some experts say that the Egyptian team is ageing and is no longer able to give more, what do you say?
• A: No on the contrary, the group is made of young and experienced players, the oldest is the goal keeper Essam Al Hadhri (34) but the others are young and are in their best period of time as footballers.
• Q: Can we talk about the latest skirmishes during the match that opposed your club Port Said to Bejaia?
• A: Paradoxically, this is the first time where I visited Algeria and found that the Algerian people is a charming one they were taking photos with us inside and outside the airport which means that there no barriers between us, even Rabah Madjer who took the same flight as us took photos with the group. This hearty welcome made me think to stay even longer in Algeria in order to know better the people , but unfortunately things went wrong I still don’t understand what really happened especially that we reserved a hearty welcome to Bejaia in Cairo.