Chimodzi to make changes

Algeria’s coach Christian Gourcuff expects a much tougher showdown tomorrow night against the Flames in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations Group B reverse fixture pencilled for Algiers.

Gourcuff was quoted by Ahram sportsonline yesterday saying the Flames have nothing to lose and will want to salvage something out of the contest.

The Desert Fennecs beat the Flames 2-0 on Saturday, their third straight win in this campaign.

“The match that we played against Malawi was one of the toughest in this campaign so far.

“Now they [Malawi] know that we beat Mali in Algeria and the only chance they have is to get something out of the reverse fixture, even if it could be a point and we need to be on guard,” said Gourcuff.

He added: “Winning all our three [first-round] games does not guarantee us qualification and we still need at least one more win because with 12 points, our qualification will be assured.”

The Algerians, who flew back soon after the game on a chartered Algerian Airline flight, were expected to have their first training session yesterday.

“We’ll only have two training sessions—today [Monday] and Tuesday before the game on Wednesday,” he is quoted as saying.

In the meantime, Flames coach Young Chimodzi has hinted at ringing some changes from the team that started on Saturday.

He was reacting to questions from journalists and suggestions from football commentators that some players’ performance was disappointing.

“I will not point out any individual player, suffice to say there were indeed others who struggled and we are going to sit down to see where necessary changes can be effected,” said Chimodzi.

This was after one of the journalist put it to him that some players such as goalkeeper McDonald Harawa and right-back Bashir Maunde failed to live up to expectations.

Seasoned tactician and former Flames coach Yasin Osman said Harawa, in particular, has not been firm in the past two games.

“I am not insinuating that the goalkeeper is hopeless, but I think in the game against Ethiopia he could have done better looking at the way he conceded the second goal and, more recently against Algeria, he could have kept out the effort that led to their second goal as well.

“He has not been that steady and as a result, it has led to defenders becoming jittery,” said Osman.

The Mighty Wanderers technical director also said Maunde struggled as a right back.

“But then I cannot blame him because he has just played a few games in the senior national team,” said Osman.

Meanwhile, after an exhausting three-legged trip that took them to South Africa and Dubai, the Flames arrived in Algiers in the afternoon on Monday.