Sports
Spurs’Bentaleb Commits Future To Algeria
Algeria’s World Cup
hopes have been boosted after Tottenham Hotspur’s Nabil Bentaleb pledged his international future to the North Africans.
The midfielder, 19, had played for France at junior level but can switch allegiances under Fifa rules.
Algeria has named him in their squad for the March friendly with Slovenia.
“Football Federation (FAF) president Mohamed Raouraoua met with (Bentaleb), who agreed to play for the country of his parents,” read a FAF statement.
“Bentaleb will be called up for the next phase of the national team’s preparations on 1 March, ahead of the match against Slovenia on 5 March in Blida.”
Bentaleb was little-known to most Premier League followers until Tim Sherwood replaced Andre Villas-Boas as Tottenham manager in the run-up to Christmas.
He made his Premier League debut as a substitute in Sherwood’s first game in charge, a 3-2 victory at Southampton.
After two more substitute appearances in the league, Bentaleb’s full debut came in the FA Cup loss at Arsenal and the central midfielder has played every minute of every Spurs match since.
Algeria will contest Group H at this year’s World Cup where they will face Belgium, South Korea and Russia.
The Desert Foxes competed at the 2010 finals in South Africa, drawing 0-0 with England and losing their other two group games 1-0 to Slovenia and the United States.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.