Algeria Appoints Gourcuff

Algeria recently appointed Christian Gourcuff as the manager to lead the national team. He will be leading the African team up until the 2018 World Cup. The 59-year-old becomes the replacement for Yugoslavian coach Halilhodzic, who stepped down from his role after the end of the World Cup 2014. Halilhodzic has gone with his head held high after remarkable performance in which Algeria came close to beating eventual champions Germany in the last 16 stage. Hence, Gourcuff will be having a tough job on his hands to succeed Halilhodzic.

Apart from managing the national team, Gourcuff will also be involved with the A team. This team will consist only of locally-based players, who would then be promoted to the national team. Up until now, Gourcuff had been the manager of French club Lorient. However, he stepped down from his role at the end of last season. He had been involved with Lorient for the last 25 years during which time he has taken the club from the bottom levels of French football to the top division. He will be hoping to apply his experience in the Algerian national team.

After taking over, Gourcuff praised striker Jordan Ayew by saying that he is a player with a lot of potential. He says that he was interested in signing Ayew for his former club Lorient.

“Jordan Ayew is a player with great potential, a young player with a future ahead of him, and can get better. The fact that he chose to come is certainly a sign of ambition. But it also corresponds to a real need to strengthen, because we lost major players. That’s how we stay competitive. Lorient is the ideal club for the younger brother of Andre Ayew for him to show his talent,” said the new Algerian national team boss.