Petkovic succeeds in his first test with the Algerian national team – New Algeria

The new coach of the Algerian national football team, Vladimir Petkovic, succeeded in his first test with the “Greens” team, as he led them to an exciting victory over the Bolivia national team. (3-2)Yesterday evening, Friday, at the “Nelson Mandela” Stadium in Baraki, for the first round of the Algeria International Tournament “FIFA Serie 2024”.

Petkovic did not make many changes to the starting lineup, which was accustomed to playing during the era of former national voter, Jamal In the pastespecially in the back line, where, in addition to goalkeeper Mandria, he relied on both Youssef Atal and Rayan Ait Nouri as right and left backs, and Issa Mandi and Ramy Bensebaini in the midfield of defence.

Nabil Ben Taleb and Ramez Zerrougui were inserted as defensive midfielders, Fares Shuaibi and Yassine Brahimi as offensive midfielders, and Amine Goueiri and Baghdad Bounedjah as outright attackers.

It is noted in this squad that the only change is the presence of Brahimi, who returned to the ranks of the national team after an absence of two years, and who in yesterday’s match was the best player on the field, as despite his exaggeration at times in keeping the ball and making many dribbles, he was behind the opening of the Algerian team. To score, in the 43rd minute), after great work on the left side and passing the ball to Amine Guiri, who shot towards the goal and his ball collided with a Bolivia defender before entering the net.

Many changes in the second half

At the beginning of the second half of the match, while the Algerian sports fans were waiting for the “Greens” to embody their control by adding other goals, the opposite happened, as the Bolivian team was able to adjust the score through Algarnaz (47th minute), after a grave error by the veteran Issa Mandi in marking. The ball, then the visitors added a second goal, by Chavez (69th minute) after the disintegration of the middle of the defense, which was composed of Mandy and also Mohamed Lamine Togay, who had replaced Ben Sabaini in the middle of the first half, due to the injury of the German Borussia Dortmund player.

Petkovic resorted to a series of changes in the second half, bringing in, respectively, Ammora, Benzia, Bakrar, Hadj Moussa and Guendoussi, and the exit of Guiri, Bounedjah, Brahimi and Bentaleb, but without this affecting the continuation of the intense offensive campaigns. This allowed the “Desert Warriors” to achieve a distinctive “remontada”, as they succeeded in adjusting the result thanks to Benzia (79th minute) after a “struggle” on the right side from Atal and then Bekrar, before they added the third goal and tipped the balance in their favor through Issa Mandi at the time. In stoppage time of the match (90+4 minutes), he insisted on correcting the grave mistake he committed at the beginning of the second half.

Petkovic is definitely in demand against South Africa

The Algeria International Tournament “FIFA Serie 2024” opened the day before yesterday, Thursday, with a match between the South African and Andorra teams, which took place at the “May 19, 1956” stadium, in the city of Annaba and ended with a score. Tie (1-1).

The second round of the tournament will be known as a confrontation between Bolivia and Andorra next Monday, in Annaba, and another between Algeria and South Africa next Tuesday, in Baraki.

The Algeria International Tournament is included in… Pilot project It was launched by FIFA under the name “FIFA Serie”. This project will be officially launched in the year 2026, and will be held every two years, but FIFA decided to test it on the date of the current international hiatus, from March 18 to 26. This project consists of holding international tournaments on different continents with the participation of several teams.

As a reminder, Bosnian Croat Vladimir Petkovic, who also holds Swiss citizenship, had… eye At the head of the technical staff of the national team, on the 3rd of this month, succeeding Algerian Djamel Belmadi, whose duties were ended after the early exit of the “Greens” in the last African Cup of Nations finals, “CAN 2023”.