Hassan Yebda to Echorouk: “The African trophy is within our reach”

The talented midfielder of the Algeria football squad, Hassan Yebda, has affirmed in an interview with “Echorouk” that the Greens are quite able to snatch the African trophy in the wake of their resounding qualification for the semi-finals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournament following their heroic 3-2 victory on Sunday over the indomitable national team of Ivory Coast. 

• Echorouk:  We would like to have your impressions following the Greens’ praiseworthy quarter-final win versus Ivory Coast who were widely regarded as the main favourites in this African competition?
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• Yebda:  I should say that the beginning of the match was most difficult for us especially in the midfield but slowly but surely we got a grip on ourselves and we began  playing better as evidenced by the 3 goals we succeeded in scoring against the Ivorians.
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• Echorouk:  How did you sustain psychologically the sudden Ivorian goal scored in the first minutes of the match? …
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• Yebda:  Well, this early Ivorian goal did not undermine our morale.
• On the contrary, it prompted us to step up our efforts on the pitch to score the equalizer as early as possible and we luckily did so, 5 minutes before the end of the first half. This boosted our morale even further and we decided to take it in our stride.
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• Echorouk: The Ivorian players, who were leading 2-1, literally broke down after Bouguerra’s last minute equalizer. This was obvious during extra-time which witnessed an all-out domination of play by the rejuvenated Algerian players…?
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• Yebda: Absolutely, after Bouguerra’s last minute equalizer, the Ivorians were utterly dismayed and flabbergasted at this unexpected turn in events as they had seen themselves, a few minutes earlier, straight in the semi-finals.
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• This salutary equalizer galvanized us during extra-time and we succeeded in scoring a third and winning goal which opened for us the doors of the semi-finals.
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• Echorouk: Do you think that the Greens have the necessary stamina and prowess to wrench the 2010 African trophy in Angola?
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• Yebda: This resounding victory over the strong team of Ivory Coast is a clear evidence to all and sundry that we have a great national squad who are now able to clinch the 2010 African trophy.
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• Anyway, I should tell you that all the players and the technical staff alike are fully determined to achieve this objective through thick and thin in order to bring joy and delight to the valourous Algerian people.
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