Algeria legend Lakhdar Belloumi: World Cup 2010 draw with England was ‘misleading’

Algerian legend Lakhdar Belloumi believes that that the current batch of players have not coped well with rising expectations after their 2010 World Cup qualification and that their biggest issue is that many players are not getting enough playing time at club level to be successful in 2012 AFCON qualifying.

The former Algeria international claims his nation's draw with England in South Africa was 'misleading', prompting high expectations in north Africa.

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“The big problem we have at the moment is that the majority of our players aren’t competitive. They don’t play regularly with their clubs and that isn’t good for the national team. Also, I think that the World Cup led us astray. We didn’t do well in the tournament, we thought we had already arrived,” he said while speaking to Al Heddaf after Algeria conceded a bitterly disappointing 2-0 away loss to the Central African Republic.

“The draw against England was misleading. I said it before and I’ll say it again, [Rabah] Saadane should have left after the World Cup, just like some players actually. We need to review our policies within the national team if we really want to qualify for the next AFCON. Mathematically nothing is over, but it’s not going to be easy.”

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