aging stars, the Riyad Mahrez problem… The avenues to explain the fiasco of Algeria, eliminated ingloriously

As in 2022, the Fennecs were eliminated from the group stage of the CAN after their defeat against Mauritania on Tuesday evening.

Nothing is going well for Algeria. In difficulty since the start of the CAN, the Fennecs were eliminated on Tuesday January 23, after their defeat against Mauritania (1-0). For the second edition in a row, the Algerians are out before the final phase and finish last in their group. Worse, they have not won a single match at the CAN since their coronation in 2019. Franceinfo: sport looked into the explanations for these repeated failures.

An aging team

At the top of the continent in 2019, Algeria is now at the bottom of the hole. A downgrade which is partly explained by an aging generation that has not yet been completely replaced. In the list of 26 selected to play in Ivory Coast, 12 were already present four years ago, including many executives. The problem is particularly present in attack, where only two of the six players called by Djamel Belmadi are under 30 years old (Mohammed Amoura, 23 years old, and Lille Adam Ounas, 27 years old). The coach “is making something new out of something old”regretted Mounir Ouassel, director of the media The score20 minutes into the tournament.

The future in the selection of several of these players including Riyad Mahrez (32 years old), Islam Slimani (35 years old), or Sofiane Feghouli (34 years old), will be particularly scrutinized after this new fiasco. Behind, the young generation, embodied by the promising Farès Chaïbi (21 years old, 106 minutes of play during this CAN) and Mohammed Amoura (113 cumulative minutes), has not yet taken control.

The Riyad Mahrez problem, target of criticism

At the heart of this disillusionment, one player particularly attracts attention and criticism. Historic part of the selection, Riyad Mahrez was heckled throughout the tournament by supporters and observers, for his disappointing performances (he was rated a scathing 2/10 by the specialist site DZFoot after the draw against Burkina Faso , “probably […] his worst match in the colors of the national team”) and the perception of a lack of commitment. Former captain of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, Mahrez chose last summer to go into exile in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli.

“Many are calling for him to be sidelined, whether among journalists, observers or simple fans of the selection. He is no longer this indisputable player behind whom the whole nation was pushing,” explained Naïm Beneddra, journalist for Goal and Fennecs specialist, to Eurosport before the third match.

“We don’t listen to what is said. All the people who try to talk and believe that we have to win every match 3-0, stay behind their phone and their computer.”the player reacted to the microphone of Bein Sports at the end of the match against Burkina Faso, shortly after tweeting a message with a smiley face covering his ears. But, left on the bench for the decisive match against Mauritania on Tuesday evening, he was unable to change the course of the match.

A contested coach

Just like Riyad Mahrez, Fennecs coach Djamel Belmadi is also increasingly contested. Appearing very affected just after the final whistle of his team’s defeat against Mauritania, he then appeared tense in front of the press, violently explaining himself to a journalist who questioned him about becoming the first coach Algerian to be eliminated twice in the first round: “You, from the beginning, you have been on a mission, from the beginning it’s been like that. You didn’t specify that I am the second coach to have won the African Cup. I don’t care about your thanks […] I don’t even know what to say to that.”

Targeted since last year for his communication becoming complicated, rarely able to explain the difficulties of his team, he said he did not “[s’]explain why [ils] doesn’t happen[nt] not to be won”before railing against arbitration and the Var which “did not work”. An outing which was reminiscent, to a lesser extent, of his diatribe, in April 2022, after his team’s defeat against Cameroon in a match which deprived Algeria of the World Cup in Qatar: “No referee will come to harm an entire country […] When we go to Africa, we don’t have the same favors. We steal the hopes of an entire country and leave it like that… I’m not saying we should kill it. But we are no longer going to accept this kind of situation.”

Belmadi also did not want to comment on the follow-up and the thoughts to have after these two failures at the microphone of Canal+ Sport Africabefore conceding at a press conference that it was “maybe” the end of a cycle. At the end of the meeting, the Algerian press reported an attempted intrusion by supporters into the hotel of the Fennecs delegation, in Bouaké. They called for the resignation of the coach.