Algeria coach leaves out Zidane and Gueboul: includes a player from the Egyptian league
Algeria top their group in the qualifiers
Algerian coach Ibrahim Hamdani named his national team squad on Thursday for the two matches against Togo on 14 and 17 November, part of qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
Several prominent names missed out. Chief among them were goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of France coach Zinedine Zidane, and Paris FC midfielder Ilan Kebbal.
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Hamdani insisted his decision on Zidane came down to form alone: "I made my choices based on a sporting criterion, especially in the goalkeeping position, which is considered very special. I needed three goalkeepers with as much playing time as possible. The three selected goalkeepers are the most active since the previous camp, and that is the only reason for my choice."
Between the posts, Hamdani turned to Oussama Benbot of USM Alger, Melvin Mastyl of Switzerland's Lausanne and Abdellatif Ramadan of MC Alger.
Others to drop out included Manchester City's Rayan Aït-Nouri, Houssem Aouar and Paris FC's Samir Chergui, along with Baghdad Bounedjah and Ismaël Bennacer.
Two new faces earned their first call-up: CSKA Moscow's Mohamed Azzi and Deportivo Alavés's Abderrahmane Rebbach. Rafik Belghali, Hicham Boudaoui, Yacine Titraoui and Farès Ghedimès were among those returning to the fold.
The full list came as follows:
Goalkeeping: Oussama Benbot (USM Alger), Melvin Mastyl (Switzerland's Lausanne), Abdellatif Ramadan (MC Alger).
Defence: Rafik Belghali (Torino), Achraf Abada (USM Alger), Zineddine Belaïd (Al-Taawoun), Rami Bensebaini (Borussia Dortmund), Mohamed Azzi (CSKA Moscow), Jaouen Hadjam (Brighton), Souaïeb Nair (Saint-Étienne), Ahmed Touba (Le Havre).
Midfield: Himad Abdelli (Olympique de Marseille), Nabil Bentaleb (Lille), Hicham Boudaoui (Nice), Farès Chaïbi (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ibrahim Maza (Bayer Leverkusen), Abderrahmane Rebbach (Deportivo Alavés), Yacine Titraoui (Lens).
Attack: Mohamed Amine Amoura (Nice), Mouncef Bakrar (Al-Ahly of Egypt), Bachir Belloumi (Hull City), Adil Boulbina (Al-Diriyah), Amine Chiakha (Rosenborg), Farès Ghedimès (Frosinone), Amine Gouiri (Olympique de Marseille), Anis Hadj Moussa (Feyenoord).
Algeria top their group on 4 points after beating Zambia 3-1 and drawing 2-2 with Burundi. Two wins over Togo would tighten their grip.
