Algeria manager Rabah Saadane calls for a win against England
Algeria manager Rabah Saadane has called for a speedy recovery from his players after watching side lose to Slovenia, following a dreadful goalkeeping blunder from Fawzi Chaouchi.
Chaouchi completely misjudged a hopeful shot from Slovenia captain Robert Koren, with just 10 minutes remaining, and let the ball slither through his hands for what was to prove the eventual winner.
Saadane has made it known that Chaouchi has apologised to the squad for failing to deal with Koren's effort, but the manager refused to condemn the goalkeeper.
"We must recover and prepare for an even more difficult match against England, which is the best team of the group," said Saadane . It's going to be very difficult for us now. We had a great opportunity today and we have missed it."
Algerian substitute Adlane Guedioura has stated that the team were very disenchanted with the outcome of their opening game, but still maintains his conviction that Algeria can still progress to the knockout stages, by stunning one of the big guns.
"England and USA are two big teams and are regarded as favourites to qualify from our group, so we will need to play very well and be very confident in our abilities. We have to be focussed because we need a result but we showed today that we can do something here, even if the result wasn't so good," said the midfielder. "This wasn’t the real picture of our team."
Slovenia skipper Robert Koren has made it known that his country's main objective is to qualify for the knockout stages after scoring the decisive goal in their Group C opening win against Algeria.
Koren scored the solitary goal of the contest, after an absolute clanger from Algerian goalkeeper Fawzi Chaouchi, who allowed what, was no more than a speculative attempt, to pass through his gloves.
"It means a lot for such a small country. To be able to go to the World Cup is already a big achievement but to win a game there is a very special moment," said the 29-year-old.
"Before the game we said we would do everything within our means to get the win, and now are goal is to get through to the knockout stage. It’s good to see we are top of the group, but that can soon change and the next stage is to make sure we are still top after we play USA."
Koren, is at present, a free agent following his release from newly promoted West Bromwich Albion at the end of last season. He also confessed that the main Slovenian approach was to take advantage of the now notorious Jabulani ball, which involves shooting on sight, and accepted that his team were fortunate with the outcome.
"I was just lucky to see it go in like that," he said. We all know that all the keepers do not have much confidence with this new ball because it is very difficult to control so we decided to get in as many shots as possible at goal and we are really pleased that one of them went into the net."
Slovenian head coach Matjaz Kek also acknowledged the rather lucky nature of their win, and believes Algeria could cause England a few problems when those two sides meet on Friday.
"One mistake from the goalkeeper gave us the game, but I think Algeria were very unfortunate. I think they can play better than they did against us and I hope that they can beat England in the next match, which will help us to progress," he said.
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