Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
In a recent interview, Anis Hadj-Moussa did not hide his ambition to establish himself permanently in the national team. Supported by his coach at Feyenoord, Robin van Persie, the Algerian winger claims to have fully seized his chance during the last rally.
“Van Persie keeps telling me that I have to be good at club to then play for Algeria. I started during the last break, I think I was able to show the coach what I am capable of,” he confided.
Hadj-Moussa translated this confidence onto the field during the friendly match against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. A meeting that the Greens won 2-0, largely thanks to the activity, impact and initiative of the young winger. Very present in the game, he was one of the most dangerous men in the system put in place by Vladimir Petkovic.
From the first period, the Algerian team clearly dominated the debates, camping in the opposing camp without managing to convert its numerous projections. If the Saudi defense resisted, Hadj-Moussa increased his acceleration and took risks to create gaps. Its impact was one of the few truly destabilizing elements for a withdrawn and cautious Saudi Arabia. After the break, the match gained in intensity. Under Saudi pressure, the Fennecs had to be more vigilant, but this phase also offered more space to Hadj-Moussa.
In the 72nd minute, he turned the game on its head: perfectly thrown into the area, he caused a penalty after being cut down. Riyad Mahrez transforms and opens the scoring. A decisive action which illustrates the growing maturity of the player. The end of the match will confirm its influence. In the 86th minute, he once again overflowed, entered the area and saw his shot blocked; Belghali appears to double the bet.
Two decisive actions signed by Hadj-Moussa, who left his mark on this training course in Jeddah. With this performance, the Algerian winger shows himself ready to establish himself sustainably among the Greens and to meet the expectations of his coach, and hopes to shine more during the CAN 2025 in Morocco next month.
Anis Hadj Moussa (23 years old) signed his 20th contribution in 56 matches in the Dutch championship (Eredivisie). He is almost in the same waters as his current coach, Robin Van Persie, after so many meetings in the Dutch elite. However, the Algerian is not a center forward. And – at times – we say to ourselves that Van Persie is pushing things too far with his foal. Van Persie is a world-class striker. Having graduated from the famous Dutch school and passed through Arsenal and Manchester United, he had an ultra-developed sense of goal. He also became a historic scorer for his selection (50 goals) before Memphis Depay erased the mark from the shelves last September. In this brilliant journey, there are numerical similarities with the beginnings of Hadj Moussa on the Rotterdam side.
Indeed, if we transpose the figures of Dz’s first 56 matches with those of Van Persie, we realize that they have almost equal “cruciality”. Indeed, during his first 56 appearances with Feyenoord, his training club, in the Eredivisie, RVP compiled 17 goals and 5 assists (22 contributions). For his part, Hadj Moussa signed 13 goals and 7 offerings except for one detail: he is a winger while his coach was an attacker. Also, the Algerian made his debut with a relatively “weak” team: Vitesse Arnhem. This means that with more clinical attackers, he will necessarily have better digital copies.
This is what Van Persie is looking for in himself. But we can think that the problem does not entirely come from the Green, which is doing its part of the job. In addition, we saw in the post-match press conference against NEC Nijmegen (2-4 defeat) on Sunday that the head of the Rotterdam technical bar was “angry” because Hadj Moussa “does not defend enough”. Hence his replacement in the 76th minute when there was a parity score. Except that after his exit, the Rotterdamois conceded two more goals. The problem was therefore not in the defensive involvement of the left-hander.
And then, when you have a player of this quality who can undermine any defense, the ideal is to exploit his strengths without the requirement being exaggerated. This is what the supporters on social networks are recommending, not understanding too much, judging the severity of Van Persie to be extreme. Especially since Hadj Moussa knows that he has shortcomings to erase.