00:00The first half-con that I remember was back in 2000, I think, because I was still in France,
00:21in Paris. And the good thing with the half-con, it becomes every two years, so you had a lot of
00:27African Cup. And I remember I was back when I was 18 in Sedan, in my academy, and we had different
00:37players. Obviously, we were French nationality, but you had different origins. You have Mali,
00:44you have Senegal, you have Algeria, you have Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and we all gathered in front
00:49of the TV and trying to support our teams and having jokes between us regarding those games.
00:58And this is where I remember this was back in 2004.
01:04I played two tournaments, 2013 and 2017. In 2013, it was South Africa. We had a tough,
01:11tough group. We had Tunisia, Togo with Adebayor and Ivory Coast. This was the big, big group.
01:19But I think we did well. It's bizarre to say that, but we played very well. We had some chances,
01:25but we couldn't score. That was the problem. And the first game killed us because we were doing so
01:32well against Tunisia and Msekni scored a goal in 93rd minute and this killed the whole half-con for us.
01:39But in 2017, after we had in Gabon, same. I think we did well, but we couldn't, you know,
01:47Afghan, if you don't start well the first game, you're pretty dead into the competition and we
01:53drew against Zimbabwe. And from there, we couldn't recover and it was unfortunate. But those Afghan
02:01helped us to win it in 2019 because we knew what we have to do and what we don't have to do in that
02:08moment. So this was the souvenir that I had in that moment.
02:12Before the tournament, was there a general feeling of you have a real opportunity because
02:18of the talent that you had at your disposal at that time?
02:21I think it was, for me, I will say yes. And people won't believe, but I have some,
02:27some people that I know, friends, family, that I told them, we need to go to this Afghan and
02:32something would happen. And I have proof for that. So, and I remember because when Belmadi gave the
02:43list and I was the oldest, oldest in the team. So I had some critics, a lot of critics
02:51said, I think the half of the, how can I say, the press conference was about me saying like,
02:58you should not take him because he's too old. And I said to my brother, I said, listen,
03:03whatever you see the critics on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, just take a screenshot.
03:09I need them and put on the file because I need them is going to be my motivation to
03:13perform into this African cup. And I told him, you will see after how they're going to change.
03:21We won the second game against Senegal, which was a big team. And this could afford the coach to
03:35make some changes into the third game. So everyone was involved.
03:43This is where I feel we, of course, we won the Afghan, but we, with the group that we had,
03:49we were enjoying every day together. We never stopped to be together the whole tournament.
03:54And this is where I think is the real win, actually.
04:02It was a tough game. We played in Canal Suez and the weather was like 40 degrees.
04:08I remember we were doing the walk around the beach and we were like, okay, it's going to be tough.
04:14Today is too hot. And after we went through the game.
04:26We had a penalty. We missed to score the second. And they scored 1-1.
04:31And after we went to extra time.
04:33When we saw that we were going to go to penalty and I was thinking, oh, Algeria always go out in
04:45penalty. So it was hard to believe that we made it because we had one miss. And just after they
04:54missed the penalty and we were qualified for the semis.
04:56You know, I'm going to ask the question, why did you not take a penalty?
05:05I was the next one. I swear, I was the next one. But of course, you have to give to the
05:11most gifted one, the one playing up front. But I was the next one and I was happy to not take it.
05:24It was an unbelievable moment, especially the fact that it was Nigeria, a big team.
05:35They had big players. But it was a tough game. We started well. We had a bit of luck with Riyad
05:42when he crossed the ball and Odongi put his own goal.
05:55And after the scenario is fantastic, having a real scoring the last free kick in the last minute,
06:02it was a relief.
06:03The fact that we got to the final, it was an amazing feeling. And the thing is that when we
06:14finished the game, we saw that, you know, the stadium in Algeria, they took a stadium,
06:19full stadium. It was 100,000 people watching the game on the big screen. So when we saw that,
06:25we say, oh, we need to do something to the country and hopefully get the cup for them and enjoy for them.
06:31How do you feel about it?
06:34Sometimes you are inside the hotel, you don't feel what's happening outside. Of course,
06:39I try to be in touch with family, but I try to be as well, not too much, because you want to focus
06:45on the game. But you get used to it. When you enter the game, you forget a bit the atmosphere.
06:51But the fact that we scored early in the game was a surprise. And after we had to defend,
06:57it was not a beautiful game to watch for us. But when you have the treasure in your hand,
07:03you don't want to drop it. So this was the whole thing for us during this game.
07:09And for you, at that stage of your career, what did it mean to lift that trophy?
07:28It's the best feeling, to be honest. When you arrive, if you see my career,
07:33it has never been a straight, easy path, smooth path to go to be professional first.
07:39At 20, I didn't have any football club. So I was thinking maybe I should stop playing football.
07:45And when you feel that you get, at 33 years old, the first trophy for your country,
07:53it was an amazing feeling. And you know, at some point in the career, you want to stop football.
07:57But this thing makes you think like the sacrifices were worth it.
08:03And to win for the country, to come back to the country with a lot of people,
08:08enjoying with them and sharing this trophy, this was the best experience, I think, in my life.
08:15And you were named in the team of the tournament. Is that when you go back and you check all the
08:21messages and the Twitters and the Facebook posts beforehand and just say, there you go?
08:26It's not a revenge or something like that. But sometimes you need fuel to,
08:32not to motivate you, but to make your focus and say, okay, you told me I won't be there.
08:39You told me I should not be there. But sometimes in my career, it's always been like this.
08:45I have to prove you wrong. And this was just a cherry on the cake to say, this is it.
08:52This is what happened. And I was happy with that. But the most important, to be honest,
08:56is the fact that we won all together. We have souvenirs. We are still in contact with all the players.
09:02And this was the best experience between together, I think. And it will never be forgotten.
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