Gourcuff: “This is why Algeria did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup”
20-03-2018, 10:58 PM


Former national football team coach Christian Gourcuff attributed the failure of qualification of the “Desert Warriors” of Algeria to the 2018 World Cup due to be hosted by Russia, to the “corruption of the ocean”, as he put it.
This came out last Monday evening, in a media appearance of Christian Gourcuff on the French TV Channel “S FR SPORT”.
“In the first place, Algeria’s participation in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers did not concern me, because I supervised only two legged fixtures versus Tanzania and shortly afterwards I was replayed by Serbian Coach Milovan Rayevac”, said Christian Gourcuff.
“There was then a strong cohesion between the players of Algeria, who provided good and convincing returns. The reason is having excellent quality players up front. Take Yacine Brahimi, for example, as a footballer, he’s full of talent,” he noted.
“Unfortunately, the ocean wrecked the harmony between the players,” Gourcuff surmised.
He did not explain what he meant. He explained what the term ‘ocean’ meant; arguing that some shadowy parties scuttled the chances to qualify the Greens of Algeria for the third consecutive time to the World Cup contest.
Christian Gourcuff has also implicitly accused the FAF Federation while it was headed by Mr. Mohamed Raouraoua for woefully missing the 2018 World Cup, especially as the Algerian Football Federation pressed him to throw the towel in April 2016 after the French team coach failed to win the African Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea in 2015, or at least to reach the semi-finals of the competition.