Sofiane Feghouli: “Rajevac Does Not Know Our Names”

Algeria international winger, Sofiane Feghouli admitted that the Desert Warriors pressurized the FAF chief, Mohamed Raouraoua, to put aside the coach Milovan Rajevac, shortly after the match against Cameroon on the evening of Oct. 9.

However, Raouraoua has denied what Feghouli said, asserting that putting aside the Serbian coach was done by his free will, and even Feghouli expressed his displeasure of those who accused him of masterminding a” rebellion” to overthrow the former National coach.

Feghouli said in a media interview with “So Foote” French website, on Friday: “We started to see the difficulty of working under the command of Milovan Rajevac in September, just before the match against Lesotho. 

“Communication was difficult between the two sides, as the players did not like his style in training. Rajevac did neither know the names of the players, nor even their positions! “.

English West Ham winger added: “Preparing for the match over Cameroon was organized in very tense circumstances. We did not have much information about the opponent, and we not trained very well tactically.”

Former player for the Spanish club Valencia FC says: “All the players who attended the match of Cameroon met, because we were determined to qualify for the World Cup in Russia in 2018, as we have reached our concern to the President of the FAF. Then Mohamed Raouraoua programmed a meeting that was attended by players and Rajevac, and his assistants, and the meeting ended with the dismissal of the Serbian coach”.

Concerning the assignment of Milovan Rajevac (62 years) by the FAF, last June, Feghouli, said: “I think the Algerian Football Federation made a mistake by bring in this coach.”

“I did not ask him to make ma a key player in the match against Cameroon in the Blida Stadium. I”m disciplined and I respect the decisions of the coaches, I always encourage my teammates, and show best performance to honor the national colors.”

Feghouli entered the match in the 87th minute as a substitute for his teammate, the striker Riad Mehrez, when the Desert Warriors against Cameroon were at (1-1). West Ham player seemed angry and not satisfied during these minutes because of giving him a chance in the last three minutes of an official World Cup qualifying match.

It appears that Sofiane Feghouli (26) has the ascendancy and powerful influence in the Desert Warriors house, and after he denied the “rebellion” against the former national coach, now he is back down admitting that he led the campaign with his teammates, just like a “bloodless coup”, and forced the FAF to end Milovan Rajevac’s tasks.