Algeria settling administrative issues ahead of Rwanda match

The Algerian Football Federation have taken full precautionary measures ahead of their 2010 World/Africa qualifier against Rwanda.

Monday, March 09, 2009
CAUTIOUS: Rabah Saadane

The Algerian Football Federation have taken full precautionary measures ahead of their 2010 World/Africa qualifier against Rwanda.

According to goal.com, Algeria sent their assistant coach Zoheir Djelloul on a trip to prepare for the team’s four-day stay in Kigali City last week.

Dejlloul visited the stadium, available training grounds, and potential hotels before returning to Algiers.

The Desert Foxes were originally scheduled to arrive in Kigali on 23 March, but the coach Rabah Saadane preferred to have two extra days in Algiers for his players to regroup and focus mentally prior to the trip.

The team will travel on the 25 March via a chartered flight to Kigali, three days before their match against Amavubi team.

Meanwhile, coach Saadane’s recent trip to Europe in search of players reaped mixed results.

Saadane managed to talk to one European target on his recent trip to the continent but was left frustrated in his attempts to speak to another.

Algerian newspaper Liberte reports that Saadane’s trip to Europe was not entirely successful.

Although he had travelled to the continent with the intention of meeting two prospective players - Racing Santander’s Mehdi Lacen in Spain and Brest’s Brahim Ferradj in France and evaluating the training grounds available in Barcelona and Toulon, Saadane was not able to accomplish all his objectives.

The encounter with Lacen did not take place for reasons that are not entirely clear as of yet.

According to Liberte’s source, Lacen did not respond to a text message sent by Saadane informing the player that he was in Spain with the intention of meeting him.

Nevertheless, the trip was not a total failure from a scouting standpoint as Saadane spoke to Brahim Ferradj and the latter agreed to attend upcoming national team training camps in order to get acquainted with the Desert Foxes and acclimatise himself slowly into the group.

Ends