Local players overshadow some professionals in the national football squad

Both strikers playing to the local club ( C RBelcourt) Islam Slimani and the Portuguese Vitoria Guimares , Hilal Soudani, came under the spotlights recently following their A class performances with the Algerian football squad during the qualifying matches for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and 2014 World Championships.

• The two players have overshadowed their direct rivals that play overseas Rafik Djebbour and Abdelkader Ghezal whose dim performances and inefficiency before the net will force them to retire early, despite the huge media uproar over their selection during the lat few years.
• In a relatively small period, Slimani and Soudani have succeeded to score more than Djebbour and Ghezali who joined the “Desert Foxes “ squad many years ago and played under the supervision of the former head coaches Rabah Saadane and Abdelhak Benchikha.
• Vitoria Guimares striker Hillal Soudani ( a pure Algerian football product) has rehabilitated the local player and paved the way for a cluster of other players to impose themselves in the national squad after being ousted for years.
• Among them, the two defenders Said Belkalem and Abderrahmane Hechoud, the playmaker Saad Tedjar and the two hopefuls Farouk Chafaie and Molhtar Benmoussa.
• Ghezal and Djebbour didn’t score since three years
• Olympiakos striker Rafik Djebbour scored three goals in official matches with the Algerian squad, the first was against Liberia during the second round the qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations; and the last was in the third round for the same competition against Egypt.
• He scored three goals during friendly matches one against Uruguay in August 2008, the second against Gabon in August 2010 and the last against Niger last May in addition to a goal scored versus Istres at the very beginning of his career with the national squad that started in August 2006. He counts 29 caps.
• His teammate and Bari striker Abdelkader Ghezal has started his career with the national squad in 2008 and counts 28 caps. He scored three goals only including two in official matches one versus Benin in February 2009 and the second against Rwanda in October 2009.
• His inefficiency either within his clubs or with the national squad pushed the head coach Hallilovic to brush him away.
• By contrast, Slimani and Soudani scored 11 goals in less than 5 months among the 21 goals scored by the national squad since the appointment of the Serbian coach Wahid hallilovic on July 2011.