Algeria Were Always Facing a Top Opposition Says Leekens after Nigeria loss

Algeria manager Georges Leekens claims that he is extremely disappointed with his team’s inability to win against Nigeria, but he also went on to say that Nigeria were one of the toughest opposition.

Algeria have made a poor start to the World Cup 2018 qualification campaign after failing to win both their opening matches. The first match ended as a disappointing draw with Cameroon and it placed a lot of pressure on the team coming into this game against Nigeria. It was clear that the players were unable to cope with the pressure.

A 3-1 loss against Nigeria puts the manager under incredible pressure. He says that he will have a lot of time to work on the tactical aspects of the team since the next match is not until January. It is also clear that Algeria will be reviewing the performance in order to start improving from the next match onwards.

The next match in January is only a friendly, but it will be a preparation for the 2017 African Cup of Nations. The manager remained optimistic about qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. There are still four matches left for Algeria, but they are already five points behind table leaders Nigeria even at this early stage.

Only one team from the group qualifies for the latter stages of the World Cup 2018 qualification campaign. “I must say that many things remain to be done. We still have a lot of work to do on the tactical level. We will have the opportunity to review what did not work well in this match against Nigeria. We must now think of Zambia. This team has held Cameroon and it will be difficult to beat. It proves that our next opponent has quality. We faced a great team from Nigeria,” said Leekens.