Dar Es Salaam — WHILE the national team 'Taifa Stars' coach, Jan Poulsen reportedly certain to make changes in his squad for African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2012 qualifiers next month, his Algerian opponent has revealed his squad.
It emerged that Poulsen was not pleased with the performance of several Stars' players against Kenya's Harambee Stars last week in which the two countries battled to a 1-1 draw at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
And, a section of local media reported last week that the Danish coach will not hesitate to axe some well known names in the squad and replace them with other new faces. The match against Harambee Stars ended in a 1-1 draw.
However, Stars faced star-studded Harambee Stars without most of its foreign based players including striker Danny Mrwanda who features for the Vietnamese side DT Long, as well as midfield duo Henry Joseph and Nizar Khalfan who plays for Kongsvinger FC of Norway and Vancouver Whitecaps in the US second tier league respectively.
Tanzania have not qualified for the Nations Cup finals since 1980, when the team made their maiden appearance in the continent's showpiece football tournament in Nigeria and Poulsen will be trying to tread where his predecessor failed.
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As Poulsen contemplates the way forward, Algerian national team coach Rabah Saadane named his roster for the Fennecs' upcoming AFCON qualifier versus Tanzania, which will be played on September 3rd either in Algiers or Blida.
The squad is made up of almost 15 European based players and retained most players who featured for the World Cup in South Africa. Charleroi's Mohamed Chakouri is the only new player in the team while Chadli Amri has been recalled to the squad to replace the injured Medhi Lacen, according to DZfoot.com.
Meanwhile, Captain Antar Yahia has missed out due to his suspension stemming from the red card he received during the World Cup in the latter stages of the final group game against the United States. Faouzi Chaouchi has also been omitted. The ES Setif glovesman has not participated in a Fennecs match since his howler against Slovenia in Polokwane.
Another goalkeeper who has been overlooked is Cedric Si-Mohamed who was recently called up for the Algeria's 2-1 friendly loss against Gabon on August 11th. Below is the squad list in full: Goalkeepers: Lounes Gaouaoui (USM Blida), Rais Mbolhi (Slavia Sofia), Mohamed Amine Zemmamouche (MC Alger).
Defenders: Mohamed Chakouri (Charleroi), Habib Bellaid (Eintracht Frankfurt), Madjid Bougherra (Glasgow Rangers), Rafik Halliche (Benfica), Abdelkader Laïfaoui (ES Setif), Carl Medjani (AC Ajaccio), Nadir Belhadj (Al-Sadd), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce).
Midfielders: Adlene Guedioura (Wolverhampton), Hassan Yebda (Benfica), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg), Chadli Amri (Kaiserslautern), Djamel Abdoun (FC Nantes), Ryad Boudebouz (FC Sochaux).
Strikers: Karim Matmour (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens), Abdelkader Ghezzal (AS Bari), Abdelmalek Ziaya (Al-Ittihad).
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