Algerian coach Ibrahim Hamdani named his country's squad today, Thursday, for the two matches against Togo on 14 and 17 November in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Several big names missed out. Chief among them were goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of France manager Zinedine Zidane, and Paris FC midfielder Ilan Kebbal.
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On Zidane's absence, Hamdani told French newspaper "L'Équipe": "I made my choices based on a sporting criterion, especially in the goalkeeping position, which is considered very particular. I needed three goalkeepers with as much playing time as possible. The three goalkeepers selected are the most involved since the previous camp, and that is the only reason for my choice."
Hamdani picked three goalkeepers: Oussama Benbot of USM Alger, Melvin Mastel of Switzerland's Lausanne, and Abdellatif Ramadan of MC Alger.
Manchester City's Rayan Aït-Nouri also dropped out, as did Houssem Aouar, Paris FC's Samir Chergui, Baghdad Bounedjah and Ismaël Bennacer.
Two new faces earned first call-ups: Mohamed Azzi of CSKA Moscow and Abderrahman Rebbach of Deportivo Alavés. Rafik Belghali, Hicham Boudaoui, Yacine Titraoui and Farès Ghedjemis returned to the national team, along with other names.
The full squad was as follows:
Goalkeepers: Oussama Benbot (USM Alger), Melvin Mastel (Switzerland's Lausanne), Abdellatif Ramadan (MC Alger).
Defence: Rafik Belghali (Torino), Achraf Abada (USM Alger), Zineddine Belaïd (Al-Taawoun), Rami Bensebaini (Borussia Dortmund), Mohamed Azzi (CSKA Moscow), Jaouen Hadjam (Brighton), Soheib Nair (Saint-Étienne), Ahmed Touba (Le Havre).
Midfield: Himad Abdelli (Olympique Marseille), Nabil Bentaleb (Lille), Hicham Boudaoui (Nice), Farès Chaïbi (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ibrahim Maza (Bayer Leverkusen), Abderrahman Rebbach (Deportivo Alavés), Yacine Titraoui (Lens).
Attack: Mohamed Amine Amoura (Nice), Mohamed-Amine Bokrar (Al-Ahly of Egypt), Bachir Belloumi (Hull City), Adel Boulbina (Al-Diriyah), Amine Chiakha (Rosenborg), Farès Ghedjemis (Frosinone), Amine Gouiri (Olympique Marseille), Anis Hadj Moussa (Feyenoord).
Algeria lead their group on 4 points. They beat Zambia 3-1, drew 2-2 with Burundi, and now look to tighten their grip across the two matches against Togo.