Former goal keeper: The football crisis in Algeria is deep

The former Algerian squad goal keeper, Mehdi Cerbah, the first interview to “Echorouk” since his departure to Qatar four years ago, in which he talks about his new experience in this country as a coach and lays out a thorough analysis about the latent crisis which undermines the Algerian football.

• Q: tell us about your experience in Qatar?
• A: years passed quickly and unnoticed, this my fourth year in this country at the moment I manage the famous Qatari club “Essed” which snatched 55 titles.
• Q: The Algerian squad is about to face the Liberian side in a decisive fixture what do you think?
• A: The have got full chances to qualify for the next round since the Liberian squad have nothing to lose, but I want to say that we need a strong squad able to qualify straight away without resorting to complicated calculations with microscopic teams.
• Q: do you mean that we do not posses a strong team?
• A: Unfortunately, yes, because most of the short listed internationals play in weak clubs and I do not understand why they still mostly rely on these professionals!!.
• Q: But local players are not that good, since the most talented fail to join European clubs?
• A: I disagree with you because the Algerian footballer is very talented but lack self confidence, I can tell you that any Algerian footballer can play in the Gulf countries.
• Q: The Head coach, Rabah Saadane expressed his will to quit before the fixture against Senegal.
• A: I don’t know the ins and outs, but I suppose that there are impediments which make that he cannot carry on his task. The best quality of a coach is a strong personality who makes abstraction of exterior factors.
• Q: what if they call on you again?
• A: I love my country, but for the time being it’s hard to pronounce about the matter, because a signed a deal with “Essed”. May in the future who knows? We are tired working overseas unfortunately we were forced to.
• Q: What is the best remedy for the recovery of the Algerian football?
• A: The solution must be taken at the highest level and the necessity to come back to the formation policy. I don’t conceive that the Algerian league is unable to produce players for the national squad; Algeria gave birth to 30 millions but not 11 players to represent it at this level. The crisis is deeply rooted and we have to uproot it by eliminating some parasites who contributed to this crisis.