Rafik Halliche: “The upcoming World cup qualifier versus Zambia will be tougher than the one versus Egypt”

The Algerian defender Rafik Halliche has declared that the fact that the head coach Rabah Saadane relied on him in the match versus Egypt, has given him more confidence in his abilities and that he was not impressed at all though he played for the first time before the numerous Algerian fans.

• He added that victory over Egypt was the best moment in his professional career, paying tribute to the Algerian fans that, he said, were terrific.
• Q: Any comment on the large victory versus the African Champion last Sunday?
• A: I was expecting victory before the kick off but not with such a large score, it is not easy to beat the African champion with their contingent of stars. This achievement was the fruit of our will to do well in front of our fans who flocked to the stadium to support us.
• Q: How did you live the moments after the end of the match?
• A: I was overwhelmed when I saw thousands of fans quitting the stadium fully satisfied with our performance. Victory in such confrontations means a great achievement especially that we crushed one of the best African squads and increased our chance to go to the world Cup in South Africa. But we have to temper our emotions because there are four matches left to reach this goal.
• Q: Did you expect to be among the starting line-up?
• A: Nobody denies that a match opposing Algeria to Egypt has a special stamp and pressure is at its climax, one has to keep calm, but I’m a professional which means that I have to be ready at any moment. As every player I wished I could take part to the match because we have prepared two different tactical schemes: 4/4/2 or 3/5/2. Since the coach decided to apply the last one I was called up to take part to the match. I think I did my job long with my team mates.
• Q: Despite pressure, you were on top?
• A: Pressure exists in all the matches especially that you play in front of a wonderful public. In this sense we feel responsible to it and we always play to make happy every single Algerian across the nation. In this match pressure was on all the players who did their best that’s why we succeeded last Sunday at Tchaker stadium.
• Q: Didn’t you find any difficulty to play by Antar Yahia and Bouguerra, knowing that it was your second official match?
• A: There is no secret in that, everybody was aware of his task on the pitch, the coach asked me to play in the center and Antar in the left side while Bouguerra had to move to the right side, this later was assigned the task to control Amrou Zaki and he did his job wonderfully.
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• Q: the next match versus Zambia is crucial…
• A: The next match will oppose the leader of the group to the second, and it is more difficult then that versus Egypt, but the outcome is not crucial because there are other matches ahead, I hope we qualify to the world Cup in order to satisfy the Algerian people.