The past means nothing now – Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Jul 10, 2019. 12:15

Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi says Ivory Coast’s win over the Fennec Foxes in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations will have no effect on the teams’ meeting on Thursday.

The North Africans and the Elephants will clash in a quarterfinal at the Suez Stadium tomorrow evening.

The teams met in the quarterfinals of the 2015 edition, where the West African heavyweights won 3-1 (thanks to goals from Wilfried Bony [two] and Gervinho) en route to claiming the AFCON title.

When reminded of this by Competition.DZ, Belmadi insisted the result from four years ago had no relevance for the present.

“What is certain is that we want to pass [progress]. The past is the past and we have just wanted to pass this stage of the quarterfinals, that's it,” said the Foxes’ tactician.

Belmadi was prepared to acknowledge that the Elephants will be tough opponent for the last eight clash.

“Ivory Coast is well known on the African continent for being a difficult, solid team with a lot of experience, including players who play in big leagues,” he stated.

“So that's a quarterfinal against this team. Well, I do not know the statistics on the different confrontations between Algeria and Ivory Coast, but as we have always done so far, we will not rely on statistics but rather on the form of moment.”

The winner between Algeria and Ivory Coast will advance to face either Nigeria or South Africa in the semifinal in Cairo on Sunday.