Yebda allays fitness fears

Hassan Yebda has declared himself fit for Algeria’s FIFA World Cup opener against Belgium on Tuesday.

The former Benfica defender, who spent last season on loan at Udinese, suffered an ankle knock during training earlier this week.

Despite his scare, the 30-year-old is confident he will be ready for Algeria’s Group H opener in Belo Horizonte next week.

“I am now fit to play the game. It was not a serious injury but the technical staff asked me to take a rest away from training,” SuperSport quotes him as saying.

“I did training with the entire team on Thursday.”

Algeria have never made it past the first round at a World Cup, but stand a reasonable chance of doing so in Brazil.

Russia and South Korea occupy the other places in the group and Yebda feels Algeria are in great shape.

“All the players are ready and keen to play. The atmosphere here is good and the preparation camp in Switzerland went well too,” he added.

“Our match against Belgium is very important but all games matter. We should do our best and let us wait and see.”