Nottingham Forest midfielder Adlène Guedioura has been called up by Algeria for this summer’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
The tournament gets underway in Egypt on the 21 June, with the final taking place four weeks later on 19 July. This means that the 33-year-old could miss the majority of pre-season.
He isn’t the only play that Martin O’Neill will be without. Tendayi Darikwa is also set to represent Zimbabwe at this summer’s tournament. This means that the Reds will miss two important players as they begin to prepare for next season.
It isn’t an ideal situation for O’Neill to contend with ahead of the 2019/20 Championship campaign. He will want plenty of time to work with the team on the training ground this summer. On the other hand though, it does provide both players with the opportunity of gaining some valuable international experience.
Opportunity
Guedioura’s Algeria begin their tournament by facing Kenya on 23 June. The Greens will also face Senegal and Tanzania in their group. They will fancy their chances of progressing through the group stage of the competition.
The 33-year-old will be delighted to have been selected by Algeria head coach Djamel Belmadi for the tournament. He is part of a 23-man squad in what could turn out to be his final international tournament.
The midfielder does have good memories of representing Algeria on the international stage throughout his career. He featured in all three of their games at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In total, he has made 40 appearances for Algeria. He’ll be hoping that he can add to that over the next couple of weeks after receiving this call-up.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
