The coach of the national football team, Djamel Belmadi, considered that Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire will be the biggest teams for Group E during CAN-2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon (January 09-February 06, 2022), without underestimating the teams of Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, which are also in the same group.
The national coach declared, yesterday, Tuesday to the national television after the draw for the final stage, held at the Conference Palace in the Cameroonian city of Yaoundé, that “This group includes the giant of the continent which is Cote d’Ivoire. It is a strong and well-known team. We faced them in the quarter-finals of the previous edition (Cannes-2019) and everyone watched the game, for sure, Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire are the top teams in this group against Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea. But we must be aware that there is no longer a small difference in Africa. There is always an element of surprise. We must be fully prepared and be careful in all matches.”
Algeria will begin the battle to defend its title, which it won in 2019 in Egypt, by facing Sierra Leone on Tuesday, January 11 in Douala (at two o’clock in the afternoon, Algerian time), before facing Equatorial Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, on Sunday, January 16 (8 pm) and Thursday, January 20 (5 pm), at Japoma Stadium in Douala.
Belmadi went on to say, “In high-level tournaments, it is very difficult to keep the titles. We all saw what happened to France, the World Cup winner, at the Euro 2020 where it was eliminated in the round of sixteen.
Djamel Belmadi prefers to focus on the first and second matches of the Greens in the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers (Group A), which will start next September, with two matches: Thursday, September 02 against Djibouti in Blida, and Tuesday, September 07, against Burkina Faso in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Belmadi concluded by saying “I have always said that our priority is the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. I have started preparing for September matches against Djibouti and Burkina Faso, and we will talk again about CAN-2021 in the appropriate time.”
