Algeria midfielder Adlene Guedioura has revealed his ongoing pain after failing to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. The Fennec Foxes lost to Cameroon during the qualifiers.
The 36-year-old has told the BBC’s World Football podcast how losing the Confederation of African Football (CAF) third-round tie has caused him mental and emotional difficulties. He describes the loss as a ‘trauma’ after seeing Qatar 2022 as an almost home World Cup.
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Guedioura plays his club football at Qatari side Al-Duhail after returning to the Middle East in August. He previously played for Al-Gharafa from 2019 to 2021 after spells with Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Watford and Middlesbrough and later Sheffield United.
Guedioura is not looking forward to only being a spectator at the World Cup in Qatar after Algeria failed to qualify. He is also still struggling to come to terms with the manner of the Fennec Foxes’ defeat to Cameroon. They lost on away goals after a 2-1 second-leg defeat.
“I went back to Paris with my family. It took me three weeks to a month to try to go out because Paris is full of Algerians and people come to you to tell you: ‘What’s happened, how and why?’,” Guedioura explained. “Those memories come back and it’s hurting.
“It’s going to be a trauma in my head because I’m 36 now and I still have a lot in the tank. It was my life’s hope to play the World Cup here [in Qatar]. I’m quite familiar to this country, the [Algeria] manager lives in Qatar, as well.
“Many players play here, so for us it was kind of a World Cup in our second country. The problem is that it was so close that the hurt is more and the scenario of the game, as well, hurts even more. It’s going to be a trauma that will take time for me to recover.”
Algeria appealed to Fifa to have their World Cup qualifier with Cameroon replayed
Some of the decisions Gambian official Bakary Papa Gassama made during Algeria’s World Cup qualifier with Cameroon aggrieved Guedioura’s side. The Algerian Football Association (FAF) even lodged a formal complaint with Fifa in March asking for the tie to be replayed.
But Fifa rejected the FAF’s appeal in May with the governing body noting that it considered the ‘dossier closed’. Fifa’s Referee Committee carefully examined all of the incidents from Algeria and Cameroon’s match and found the calls to be in line with the laws of the game.
Algeria had won the first-leg of their third-round qualifier 1-0 but fell behind to a goal from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the reverse tie. Islam Slimani then appeared to have booked the Fennec Foxes’ place at the World Cup, but his regular time hit was ruled out for offside.
Slimani would score again during the first half of extra time, yet Gassama denied the strike for handball after a VAR intervention. The official also reviewed the decision at a pitchside monitor. Ahmed Touba’s 118th-minute header would level the tie, but Cameroon replied.
Karl Toko Ekambi scored in the 124th minute to send Cameroon to Qatar and deny Algeria a place at the World Cup. The Fennec Foxes last featured at the Fifa tournament in 2014 as they reached the last 16 in Brazil. It marked Algeria’s best finish at their fourth World Cup.
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