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Halilhodzic owns up to defeat

Algeria: First round exit at AFCON

Algeria: First round exit at AFCON

Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic is taking the blame for his team's first round exit at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

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A 1-0 loss to Tunisia and a 2-0 beating by Togo ensured that the Fennec Foxes were the first team to leave the AFCON in South Africa.

"Well, what can I say? Today was disastrous... I don't know what happened. We built a team to win, (and) it is a team with a bright future. I feel deeply ashamed. It's hard to analyse. I can't blame anybody," Halilhodzic told reporters after the match.

"We had our opportunities to score, but we did not score. I really do feel deep shame and I take responsibility for what happened today.

"We are now going to sit down and think about the future of Algerian football. I feel a very deep attachment to this team and its players."

He added: "So many missed opportunities. We could perhaps talk about refereeing. We had two clear penalties we should have been given. The players are not happy about that. We dominated the game, but didn't manage to score," he said.

"It's the first time in my life that I have lost two games in a row and, you know, football is a strange game. You ask yourself why we did not score. Maybe the players are not mature enough? If we had gone through the first round, we would have gone very far."

The Bosnian believes the team can get better as he only joined them a few months ago and is hoping to continue despite the Algerian fans repulsion at the loss.

"Look, it's only been half a year that I have been in this position. Yesterday, I was appreciated and lauded by all and today there is a different story. You saw that, although the team was highly looked upon, although the team was very much appreciated, they have quite a lot of weaknesses," he said.

"But the question is: can they play better? I want the team to play more risky football. As I said, I accept all responsibility for that."

Posted: 27/01/13 13:47

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