The Group F of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers is shaping up following Algeria’s qualification to the continental Mundial scheduled for Ivory Coast next January.
Tanzania (second) and Uganda (third) are tied on four points with a similar goal difference after both teams were 1-0 winners in their double-header earlier this week.
However, newly-appointed head coach of the Tafia Stars Adel Amrouche has chosen to call out the manager of the Desert Warriors, Djamel Belmadi, labelling him as “arrogant”.
The row between both managers arose from an AFCON qualifier in November 2019 when Amrouche was the head coach of Botswana. Although Algeria won the game, the quarrel between both managers did not occur on the field but rather after the game.
Despite Tanzania and Algeria not facing each other until their final group game later in September, Amrouche claims Belmadi is neither ‘friendly nor professional’.
“I had a very bad experience – not about the game but the arrogant attitude of the coach,” Amrouche told BBC Sport Africa.
“He was not friendly and professional…did not respect me and did not respect the Botswana national team.
“He incited the Algerian public against me when he told them I had asked the players to use rough tactics and this is not true.”
The 55-year-old Tanzanian coach, who is an Algerian himself, reiterated that, despite the bad blood between him and his opposite number, his fondness and love for his birth country cannot be diminished.
“It will be difficult for me, especially when I hear the national anthem,” he admitted.
“You feel a great collapse, but when the whistle starts everything will change.”
The two teams will meet in Algeria, providing room for another encounter between both coaches as Tanzania continue to push for a place in next year’s AFCON.
