Algiers \u2013 The head coach of Algeria\u2019s national football team, Bosnian Vladimir Petkovic, defended on Thursday his squad selections for the final two qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The matches will be played against Somalia on Thursday, October 9, in Oran (17:00), and Uganda on Tuesday, October 14, in Tizi Ouzou (17:00). Petkovic stressed he had called up \u201cthe players in the best shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at a press conference held at the \u201cMohamed Salah\u201d hall in Nelson Mandela Stadium (Baraki, Algiers), Petkovic said: \u201cI chose the most ready players. When I have injured players, I take the opportunity to summon new faces and get to know them. I am not completely satisfied with our current performance, because I know we are capable of doing much better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For these decisive encounters, Petkovic selected a 26-man squad, including four new names: goalkeeper Luca Zidane (Granada\/Spain), defenders Rafik Belghali (Hellas Verona\/Italy), Samir Chergui (Paris FC\/France), and Mehdi Dorval (Bari\/Italy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four key players are absent due to injury: defenders Mohamed Farsi (Columbus Crew\/USA), Rayan A\u00eft Nouri (Manchester City\/England), Youcef Atal (Al Sadd\/Qatar), along with attacking midfielder Houssem Aouar (Al-Ittihad\/Saudi Arabia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am satisfied with our goalkeepers, but I want to expand options and create competition, as in other positions. Luca Zidane deserves the call-up, and he can bring value to the squad,\u201d Petkovic noted, while refusing to open the debate about selecting a permanent first-choice goalkeeper at this stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coach admitted that there are \u201careas for improvement, especially in defense,\u201d but stressed that the focus remains on winning rather than experimenting. \u201cWe are not in a testing phase, we are in World Cup qualifiers. Systems are not the most important thing\u2014it\u2019s the players\u2019 behavior on the pitch that matters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those recalled is young attacking midfielder Badreddine Bouanani, who recently transferred from French side Nice to VfB Stuttgart in Germany. \u201cBouanani is a promising young talent. I want to follow his progress closely after his move to Germany. His development will be beneficial for him and the group. We need the youth both now and for the future,\u201d Petkovic explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also commented on other talents under consideration, such as striker Adel Boulbina, who joined Al-Duhail (Qatar) from Paradou AC. \u201cI noticed he has made real progress since arriving in Qatar. He must now prove himself further and score more goals. He will be called up for the local national team to compete in the FIFA Arab Cup 2025,\u201d revealed the coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for young forward Mounsef Bakrar, who recently joined Dinamo Zagreb after two seasons at New York City FC in the MLS, Petkovic expressed his satisfaction: \u201cI am happy with his move to Dinamo Zagreb. It\u2019s an important step forward for his career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With two crucial fixtures ahead, Algeria aims to seal qualification and confirm its strong return to the forefront of African football, strengthening its presence on the road to the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Algiers \u2013 The head coach of Algeria\u2019s national football team, Bosnian Vladimir Petkovic, defended on Thursday his squad selections for the final two qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The matches will be played against Somalia on Thursday, October 9, in Oran (17:00), and Uganda on Tuesday, October 14, in Tizi Ouzou (17:00). Petkovic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-algeria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14612,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14610\/revisions\/14612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}