Aïzi and Rebbach earn first call-ups as three players are temporarily left out

Echorouk Sport reports that Aïzi and Rebbach are joining the “Greens” for the first time, while Aït-Nouri, Kebbal and Zerrouki are temporarily left out. National team coach Ibrahim Hamdani announced a 26-player squad on Thursday for the two matches against Togo, scheduled for November 14 and 17 in the third and fourth rounds of Group 9 in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The squad brings a first call-up for defender Mohamed Aïzi of CSKA Moscow and midfielder Abdelrahmane Rebbach of Deportivo Alavés. By contrast, Hamdani has temporarily omitted Rayan Aït-Nouri, Ilan Kebbal and Adam Zorgane. Echorouk Sport’s headline names Zerrouki among those left out, while the squad details identify Zorgane.

The coach announced his selections at the start of a press conference in the Mohamed Salah room at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki. He said the aim was to collect as many points as possible against Togo. The teams come into the fixtures after contrasting starts in the group: Algeria beat Zambia 3-1 at home before drawing 2-2 away to Burundi. Togo, meanwhile, defeated Burundi 1-0 in Lomé, then lost 2-0 to Zambia in Ndola.

After those two rounds, Algeria led the group on four points. Zambia and Togo shared second place on three points each, with Burundi last on one. The two meetings with Togo therefore give Algeria a chance to strengthen its position at the top, while the Togolese are among the teams closest behind.

The schedule brings two matches in quick succession. Hamdani acknowledged the difficulty of that sequence, while noting that Togo would face the same challenge. He said decisions for the second game would depend on the first match and on the group’s physical and psychological condition, leaving room for changes to the lineup.

The new squad also contains seven omissions compared with the group selected for the previous camp, held between September and October. Hamdani described the changes as part of an evaluation process that takes time. At the previous camp, he had also identified the defence as an area of work, pointing to shortcomings and the need to build greater cohesion in that unit.

Hamdani also said that regular contact was being maintained with Khlis Merah and Yanis Massolin, with a view to a possible future call-up. Neither player is in the squad announced for the matches against Togo.