Djamel Belmadi, the head coach of the Algerian national team, described his team's elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations currently taking place in Cameroon as a "setback" and "failure," indicating that he takes responsibility for Riyad Mahrez's participation in the tournament. Belmadi commented on Algeria's exit from the group stage after losing to the Ivory Coast 1-3, saying: "It's a complete failure. The players are overwhelmed. We were not up to the level of the tournament."
In the press conference following the match, he added: "This feeling is very bad because we were not used to losing, and this situation is internally killing me. We need to keep our heads up and analyze what happened. I cannot speak about the reasons for this failure after just 45 minutes." He continued: "It’s difficult to explain what happened; since the beginning of the tournament, we have not translated the chances we had, and doubt is creeping in. There are things you don’t know; Mahrez did not benefit from his time off, and I take responsibility for playing him in all matches of the group stage."
Belmadi confirmed that his focus was on the Africa Cup of Nations and not on the crucial qualifying round for the World Cup, admitting that the "Fennecs" did not achieve the desired results. It is worth mentioning that Algeria, who won the Africa Cup of Nations held in Egypt in 2019, collected only one point from three matches, finishing last in Group E, which was topped by the Ivory Coast with 7 points, one point ahead of runner-up Equatorial Guinea, who advanced to the round of 16, while Sierra Leone finished third with 2 points and also exited the tournament.
