Algeria’s coach begins work, captain tips team to beat Eagles

NFF to name Nigeria boss on Monday
Algeria’s new coach, Milovan Rajevac, was expected to arrive in the country yesterday today to assume duties as the Desert Foxes manager. The Serbian tactician was confirmed as the substantive coach of the team last month.

According to Algerian media, the former Ghana coach’s first job is to assess the state of the current playing staff and look for new faces to fortify the team before the final round of the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers kick off in October.

Algeria is in the same group with Nigeria, Cameroun and Zambia and only the winner of the pool will qualify for Russia 2018.Rajevac replaced interim manager, Nabil Neghiz, who held the job after Christian Gourcuff stepped down from the position. The 62-year-old is expected to lead the Algerians in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

While Algeria has already started preparing its team for the qualifiers, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is expected to name Super Eagles new coach on Monday.

Former Lyon of France Coach, Paul Le Guen, is the favourite for the position. According to NFF sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior are already processing papers for the foreign coach, who reportedly met with Nigerian officials in France during the Euro final.

Algeria’s Rajevic led Ghana to a second place finish in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Egypt. He also took the Black Stars to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup, losing after a penalty shoot out to Uruguay.But he had unsuccessful tenure with Saudi side Al Ahli as well as the Qatari national team.

Meanwhile, Algeria’s captain, Sofiane Feghouli, is confident his side will beat Nigeria to the World Cup ticket with the help of his compatriots.Algeria is Africa’s no. 1 ranked team, but Feghouli believes ranking alone will not do the job for them.

“We are in a difficult group but with the people of Algeria totally behind us, and or quality and commitment, we have all the chances of clinching a historic third successive World Cup ticket.”

Feghouli  recently completed a move to London club, West Ham from Valencia. He made his debut for the Algerian national team on February 29, 2012 in a 2–1 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying win against Gambia, scoring the winning goal. During qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he scored three goals in seven appearance for Les Fennecs. In the team’s opening match of the 2014 World Cup, a 2–1 defeat to Belgium in Belo Horizonte, Feghouli scored with a penalty kick – Algeria’s first World Cup goal in 28 years.