Algeria's national football team is intensifying its preparations for the 2026 World Cup, with head coach Vladimir Petkovic set to unveil the official squad list today. Following a brief hiatus for Eid El Adha, the national team, known as 'Les Verts,' has resumed training sessions at the National Technical Center in Sidi Moussa. The focus is on ensuring the team is in peak condition for the crucial tournament.<\/p>\n
Coach Petkovic will hold a press conference this afternoon at 3:00 PM in the conference hall of the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki to announce the 26-player roster. While the squad announcement always generates significant interest among fans and observers, major surprises are not anticipated. Most players currently in camp at Sidi Moussa are expected to be included, as Petkovic has been evaluating player form and tactical approaches during the current training camp.<\/p>\n
Significant attention is expected to be given to the explanations for notable absences, particularly that of experienced forward Baghdad Bounedjah, who is reportedly not expected to be part of the final squad despite his past importance to the team's attack. Similarly, midfielder Isma\u00efl Bennacer of Dinamo Zagreb is also understood to be excluded, with Petkovic expected to elaborate on these decisions during his media briefing. These choices may signal the coach's commitment to squad renewal while relying on players deemed best suited for the global competition.<\/p>\n
In a gesture to connect with supporters, the team's training session scheduled for 5:00 PM at the Nelson Mandela Stadium will be open to the public. This offers fans a unique opportunity to see their national heroes up close before their departure.<\/p>\n
Prior to the World Cup commencement, Algeria is scheduled to play two high-profile friendly matches. The first will be against the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Wednesday, June 3rd, providing a stern test against a technically gifted European side. The second and final warm-up match will take place on June 10th in Kansas City against Bolivia, serving as the team's final rehearsal before their World Cup debut.<\/p>\n
Reported by M. M.<\/p>\n
Related topics:<\/strong> Algeria football, World Cup 2026, Vladimir Petkovic, Algerian national team, Football squad announcement, Friendly matches<\/p>\n DZWatch provides English-language coverage of Algeria-focused developments for international readers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Algeria’s national football team coach Vladimir Petkovic to announce 26-player squad for the 2026 World Cup today, with preparations including…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61698,"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":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61699","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=61699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}