Algeria, on paper the most gifted national team in the Arabic-speaking world, and perhaps the most individually talented at the current Africa Cup of Nations, will almost certainly be seeking their sixth different manager in 18 months very soon. The head hunt could well start by the end of Monday.
Georges Leekens, the Belgian who has been gripping anxiously on to the armrests of what has became a notoriously rickety seat, will take charge of the so-called Desert Foxes’ last Group B match of the tournament, against Senegal on Monday.
He knows that even if he manages to guide a team that include the reigning African and Premier League Footballer of the Year, Riyad Mahrez, to their first Afcon 2017 victory, he must look over his shoulder at news from elsewhere.
A win over a Senegal who have already secured their place in the quarter-finals will only be enough to finish second, if, in the other fixture, Zimbabwe somehow defeat Tunisia without racking up too big a margin of victory.
Leekens need not look too far, either, to see that the curtains are being drawn on his short tenure.
Since he took over from Milan Rajevac last October, Algeria – who have Mahrez, the powerful Islam Slimani and Yacine Brahimi at their disposal – have come up short of the sum of their parts in two key matches.
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Firstly the defeat to Nigeria that set back severely the chances of qualifying for a third successive World Cup finals, in Russia next year. And last week’s 2-1 loss in the all-Maghreb contest against Tunisia in Franceville, Gabon, that threatens to leave their 2017 Nations Cup a stillborn project, one that began with high hopes.
Leekens has outlasted Rajovec, at least, the Serbian having overseen just two games before resigning, reportedly amid clashes with senior players about his approach and style.
Nabil Neghiz had a single match as caretaker before that, and the days when Christian Gourcuff, a Frenchman, guided Algeria to the last eight at the previous Nations Cup now look like an oasis of stability by comparison with the current upheavals.
Gourcuff held on to the post for two years. His predecessor, Vahid Halilhodzic, who took Algeria to their first-ever knockout phase at a World Cup, lasted more than 30 games.
“We lost our bearings against Tunisia,” said Leekens, blaming defensive errors – Algeria conceded a penalty – for the defeat against neighbours who celebrated the win, and taking pole position for qualification, with underdog’s glee.
“You look at Algeria and it is a team full of players with clubs in Europe,” Tunisian defender Aymen Abdennour pointed out. “We have only a few of those. But we deserved to beat them.”
Abdennour is one Tunisian with long European experience. The rugged centre-half, formerly of Monaco, has not had an easy time of things lately at his troubled employers, Valencia, who flirt dangerously with the relegation places of Spain’s top flight.
Nor did Algeria’s strikers give him a restful afternoon in Tunisia’s 2-1 win, Abdennour duelling pugnaciously with Slimani and mixing incisive interceptions with some illegitimate challenges and grapples.
With Abdennour, an element of risk of giving away free-kicks is almost always present, the downside to his undoubted physical authority.
But the centre-half remains a totem for the Tunisians, and if he and his colleagues keep a cool head against Zimbabwe, Abdennour can lead the 2004 African champions into the last eight, where they would meet the winners of Group A, with confidence.
The North African contingent may well lose their most stellar team, Algeria, at the first hurdle, but with Morocco – who can eliminate holders Ivory Coast on Tuesday with a draw against the Ivorians – and Egypt favourably positioned to progress, the Mediterranean states may yet be among the medals at this Nations Cups.
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