U17 Algerian football squad eager to qualify to World Cup competition

The U17 Algerian football squad will do its best to reach the semi finals of the eight edition of the 2009 African Cup of Nations due to kick off this Thursday in Zeralda, Algiers, the head coach Ibrir told reporters.

• Taking the floor before journalists, Arthman Ibrir said “the ultimate goal in this competition is to reach the semi finals in order to win the ticket for the next world cup contest, but this competition, he stressed, shouldn’t be a final objective but a means to prepare appropriately the national football squads in the future”.
• The coach’s 2 assistants, former international Hakim Meddane and Al Ayachi also seized this opportunity to give a historical background of the national squad which started the preparations in August 2007.
• The selection process, they said,  covered the whole country and lasted four years starting from February to June 2007 where 50 hopefuls have been shortlisted to form the core of the future national team.