Algeria coach George Leekens has described the Zimbabwe as no pushovers ahead of the Group B, Africa Cup of Nations clash on Sunday at the 20,000-seat Stade de Franceville.

The Desert Warriors will be pushing for a win inorder to put their campaign for quarter finals slot in a tough group that has also Senegal and Tunisia, but the coach considers the South African side are not pushovers.

“All the Algerian media and public are talking about is Senegal and Tunisia, but am thinking about Zimbabwe”, acknowledgeed experienced Belgian -born Leekens.

“I know they had some pre-tournament problems regarding bonuses, but the Cup of Nations history is littered with teams who defied off-field problems to succeed.

“Zimbabwe travelled to Cameroon this week and drew 1-1 in a warm-up match and that was impressive result aganist a country that have been Africa champions four times.

“I view our game aganist them as a tough challenge.We need to apply our minds 100 percent to how we are going to conquer Zimbabwe”, said Leekens.

Meanwhile Algeria ’s influential captain Carl Medjani will not be there at this year Afcon.The defender was dropped together West Ham midfielder Sofiane Megholi when coach Leekens unveiled his 23-man squad a week ago.

Feghouli has scored 11 goals in 42 appearances for Algeria including a goal in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil which helped his country advance to the last 16 and will be surely missed in this Afcon equally with Medjani, 31, who has 54 caps and plays in Spain for Leganes, is absent for the first time since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.