Blida is expected to witness a battle of soughts as much favoured Algeria clash with Ethiopia Walia Ibex who in a good day rarely give a damn about who the opposition is clearly manifested when top club St.George went toe to toe with African champions TP Mazembe.

Walias travelled  to Blida at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker  for the Day Three Group J clash on Friday, 25 March 2016 before hosting the return four days later in Addis Ababa.Algeria are expected to have their deadly quartet  of Riyad Mahrez,Yacine Brahimi,Islam Slimani and Sofiane Feghouli  in their attacking formation under coach Christian Gourcuff.

Leicester City’s Mahrez and Sporting Portugal’s Slimani are enjoying their best season to date, with 16 and 20 league goals under their belt respectively.

To battle the Walia Ibex at Stade Mustapha Tchaker, Gourcuff  is expected to renew his faith in Aïssa Mandi and Carl Medjani at the heart of the defense, with Mehdi Zeffane and Faouzi Ghoulam either side of the duo and Raïs M’Bolhi between the posts.

In the absence of injured Nabil Bentaleb, Lorient’s Walid Mesloub should be paired with Saphir Taïder in front of the back line, while FC Porto’s Brahimi will control and direct the pace with Mahrez and Feghouli on the wings and Slimani upfront.
Algeria sits at the summit of the group with the maximum six points from two games, two points richer than Ethiopia. Seychelles and Lesotho following  in that order with a point and no point.

Ethiopia are second in the group table with 4 points after 2 matches and sees this clash as a perfect opportunity to mount an upset and go ahead of group leaders Algeria, who are on 6 points.

Coach Yohannes Sahle suffered when striker Salhadin Said excused himself from the game alluding to the fact he was not in the right form to play the important game.

On the other hand Swedish based defender Walid Atta will also miss the game after a gaffe from the federation who sent his invitation letter to his Turkish address where he was nolonger available.

Salahdin last featured for the Walias during the opening game of the qualifiers against Lesotho at home last June, scoring the winner in the 2-1 victory.

The unavailability of the experienced forward will serve a big blow to Ethiopia coach Yohanes Sahle after captain Seyoum Tesfaye and forward Tafese Tesfaye also withdrew from the provisional 24-man squad due to injuries.

However Sahle has named veteran Asrat Megersa as captain the seasoned player was in the 2013 Afcon team,2014 CHAN,2014 World cup qualifiers where Ethiopia Walia Ibex reached the playoffs losing to Nigeria and the 2016 CHAN hosted by Rwanda.

Sahle has since extended an invitation to Ethiopian Coffee defender Abdulkerim Mohammed as replacement for the injured captain Tesfaye.

Algeria vs Ethiopia Form comparison:

Both teams are unbeaten in their group, but Algeria has won the previous 2 games played while Ethiopia has won 1 and drew 1.

Algeria have also won 3 of their last 5 games lost 1 and drawn 2. They have also scored at least a goal in their last 5 games.

Ethiopia have also won 4 of their last 5 games and have scored at least 2 goals in 4 of their last 5 games.

Algeria: Team News

Algeria’s head-coach Christian Gourcuff has an abundance of attacking talents at his disposal in the form of Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez, Porto midfielder Yacine Brahimi, Valencia’s Sofiane Feghouli and Sporting CP striker Islam Slimani for this tie.

Looking at the type of players he called up for this match, it is very evident that the Desert Warriors are looking for all three points at Blida on Friday.

Algeria: Predicted Line up (4-2-3-1)

M’Bolhi – Medjani, Mandi, Zeffane , Ghoulam- Mesloub, Taider – Brahimi, Mahrez, Feghouli – Slimani

Ethiopia: Team News

Ethiopia national team coach Yohannes Sahle is dealt with a blow as his star striker Saladin Said has turned down the call-up to the national squad due to lack of appearance for his club.

To make things worse, the Walia ibex will be without captain Seyoum Tesfaye and forward Tafese Tesfaye, who are sidelined due to their respective injuries.However the presence of inspirational Shemeles Bekele,Getaneh Kebede and Umed Ukwirry will add the major needed flavor with the likes of talented midfielder Behailu Assefa also known as Tusa.

Ethiopia: Predicted line-up (4-4-2)

Tariku Getnet – Delsho, Girma, Anteneh Tesfaye, Tamene – Ponam, Assefa, Shemeles, Asrat  – Kebede, Umed.

Algeria vs Ethiopia: Head-To-Head Stats

Previous Meetings:
Algeria 3-1 Ethiopia (15-11-2014)
Ethiopia 1-2 Algeria (06-09-2014)

Both Teams have only played twice which was the 2014 AFCON qualifiers, Algeria won the 2 games comfortably and score at least 2 goals in each of the match.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com