‘It’s for the Arab world’

Algeria’s manager, Vahid Halilhodzic, called his team “heroic” and described them as the representatives of the Arab world after they qualified for the knockout stages for the World Cup for the first time in their history after a 1-1 draw with Russia and declared: “I love it when I see a team fight like this.”
He also insisted that no one has forgotten that in 1982 Algeria beat West Germany — the team they must now face in the last 16.
“I am very, very proud of what we have achieved tonight,” Halilhodzic said.

“We played a heroic match and our qualification for the second round is entirely deserved. We went for the result with generosity, enthusiasm and discipline.

“We have not forgotten: everyone is talking about Algeria-Germany from 1982, when Algeria won 2-1. Thirty two years is a long time and I am very proud.”

Halilhodzic, who played for Yugoslavia in 1982, continued: “I made a speech for the players before the game. We are the representatives of the Arab world and the players are extremely proud of that.

“This is a new image and a new reputation that we have built and we have to be proud of that. It’s not only the Arab world, either, but we also have fans in Bosnia, Croatia, all over the former Yugoslavia.”

“There is a lot of love for this team, even in Brazil. People here love our sincerity and our strength.
“Our behaviour has been irreproachable too: we have had only two or three yellow cards in all our games.

“There are better teams than us, but we have earned a lot of affection in the world.”
“We are the small, small team of Algeria against a big team from Germany, so I don’t know if the Brazilians will be on our side (in the stadium in the next round). I know the Brazilian fans like good football, they like the game to be spectacular, and we can do that.

“Why not? Hopefully we can play that way to satisfy them too. We are not the same level as Brazil, but we will do our best to attract the Brazilian fans in Porto Alegre.”

The coach refused to be drawn on whether Ramadan would affect his team, insisting “let’s talk about football; I am not here to talk about Islam or anything like that”.

He was also not keen to talk about Fabio Capello’s complaints that the Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev had been blinded by a laser in the goal that ultimately sent Algeria through. — Guardian.