The Minister of Youth and Sports, Abderezzak Sebgag, affirmed that the elimination of the Algerian national football team, holders of the continental title, in the first round of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (postponed until 2022), after its defeat against Côte d’Ivoire (1-3), yesterday, Thursday, at the Japoma stadium – Douala (Cameroon), “does not diminish its value,” stressing the need not to “remain grateful ” to the cubs of Belmadi.
“The stumbling of the national team and the heavy defeat do not diminish the value of our team because this is football, and we, as Algerian government and people, do not deny that the cubs of Belmadi have made the joy and happiness of Algerians in recent years,” Sebgag said in an audio recording.
“We bring you our support…Losing a match is in no way synonymous with the end of your journey…other matches await you…Take the time to take stock of your performance and determine the reasons for this failure in these African competitions,” added the minister.
“You have all the technical, human and material potential required to be part of the great nations of football and the most formidable teams in competition, in Africa and elsewhere”, concluded Mr. Sebgag.
“The greens” drew with Sierra-Leone (0-0), before being defeated in the second match against Equatorial Guinea (0-1).
At the end of this 3rd and final day, Côte d’Ivoire comes first (7 points) and Equatorial Guinea (6 points) are qualified for the round of 16, while Sierra Leone (2 points) and Algeria (1 point) are eliminated from the competition.
