Daily Independent Online.
*
Monday, July 05, 2004.
Algeria
writes off Eagles
By Orkula Shaagee
Correspondent, Abuja
Surprisingly, the
Algerian senior national team, Desert Warriors that tackled the Super Eagles of
Nigeria last Saturday in one of the group 4 Germany 2004 World Cup qualifier
did not feature six of their regular players.
This was disclosed
by the Head of Sports, Algeria Television, Haid Derraji in Abuja last Saturday
in an exclusive interview he granted Daily Independent at the Abuja National
Stadium.
ì It may
sound unrealistic to you but it is true that the Algerian team here is not the
best, we are not here with six of our regular players who are down with
injuries at the moment, and I think their presence would have made the
differenceî, Derraji said.
Speaking further,
Derrahji says he did not see anything fantastic in the Super Eagles team that
tackle them last Saturday, adding that the Eagles need to extra hard to pick
the sole ticket from the group to the Germany 2006 mundial.
He said that before
their arrival, they had the belief that the Super Eagles were a strong side,
but informed that the Nigeria team that tackled them last Saturday was not the
same as the Super Eagles of old.
Derraji observed
that the Super Eagles would face an uphill task of qualifying for the World Cup
fiesta, unless changes are made to the team, especially in the technical crew,
as there was little to offer the players from the bench to change the tide of
the game.
On the Desert
Warriors side, Derraji said the Algerians have good and young players who are capable
of turning the table against the Super Eagles during the return leg in Algiers.
