Coach of the Algerian national football team, Belgian Georges Leekens, unveiled on Saturday the list of 23 players who will take part in the African Cup of Nations CAN-2017 in Gabon (14 January-5 February).
The remarkable feature of this list is the absence of midfielder Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham / England) and Carl Medjani (Leganes / Spain), considered as pillars of the Desert Foxes.
This list includes four players from Ligue 1 Mobilis: two goalkeepers Malik Asselah (JS Kabylie) and Chamseddine Rahmani (MO Béjaïa) as well as two defenders of USM Algiers Mohamed-Rabie Meftah and Mohamed Benyahia.
The team will start training camp in the National Technical Center of Sidi Moussa (Algiers) which will run until January 12, day of departure for Gabon.
At CAN 2017, Algeria will play in Group B, alongside Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
The list of the 23 called players:
Goalkeepers:
Raïs Ouahab M'bolhi (Antalyaspor/Turkey), Malik Asselah (JS Kabylie), Chemseddine Rahmani (MO Béjaïa)
Defenders:
Mokhtar Belkhiter (Club Africain/Tunisia), Mohamed-Rabie Meftah (USM Algiers), Aïssa Mandi (Real Bétis/Spain), Hicham Belkaroui (Espérance de Tunis/Tunisia), Liassine Cadamuro (Servette Geneva/Switzerland), Mohamed Benyahia (USM Algiers), Ramy Bensebaïni (Stade Rennais/France), Faouzi Ghoulam (Naples/Italy), Djamel-Eddine Mesbah (FC Crotone/Italy)
Midfielders:
Adlène Guedioura (Watford FC/England), Saphir Taïder (Bologne FC/Italy), Nabil Bentaleb (Schalke 04/Germany), Mehdi Abeïd (Dijon FCO/France), Yassine Brahimi (FC Porto/Portugal), Rachid Ghezzal (Olympique lyonnais/France)
Strikers:
Islam Slimani (Leicester City FC/England), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City FC/ England), Hillal El Arabi Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb/Croatia), Baghdad Bounedjah (Al Sadd/Qatar), Sofiane Hanni (RSC Anderlecht/Belgium).
