Baghdad Bounedjah, striker for the Algerian national team, recently spoke about the challenges of preparing EN before their trip to Malabo to face Equatorial Guinea.
The native of Oran notably recognized that the team was not completely ready for this trip, stressing that the CAF schedule does not allow the selectors to have enough time for their players for optimal preparation. However, Bounedjah remains optimistic and believes that the will of the group will be able to compensate for these difficulties.
“These are official matches, they help to improve the ranking, we did not have time. We trained with only one day of recovery, it was not possible for the people who traveled and we will traveling for 5 hours The coach didn't have that time, but we as professionals are aware of this responsibility,” he explained.
He also underlined the importance of this trip in preparing for upcoming events, notably the World Cup qualifiers. “We will try to be up to the task and deal with the conditions, because it is in this kind of atmosphere that we will play the rest of the World Cup qualifiers, the new players must also get used to helping the “team. Insha Allah we will come back with a good result.”
Although EN has bad memories of the match against Equatorial Guinea in Japoma in 2022, Bounedjah puts this meeting into perspective. “It's not a special match, we're not playing for our future, if we needed qualification we would have said it like that, but we're going to try to win, the match will be difficult, against an opponent who will everything to win to pass, but the Algerian team is a great team, which contains high level players.”
Finally, regarding his physical condition and his role in the team, Bounedjah was determined. “I will give everything, I will be 100% when the coach needs me, I am ready, and insha Allah I will be ready for the CAN and we will prepare it well to have the best possible result,” he concluded.
DZfoot
