Algeria turn to great entertainer Yacine Brahimi to lift spirits after miserable Afcon

It had been 802 days since he last started an international match, a few more since he last wore the captain’s armband for his country.

He has celebrated three birthdays in that period and, at 34, an advanced age for an attacking footballer, these were experiences Yacine Brahimi had assumed were deep in his past.

Yet at the weekend, Brahimi heard loud and clear that the most devoted supporters of Algeria, bruised by successive failures at the Africa Cup of Nations, still regard him very fondly indeed. His unexpected recall to the national squad and his immediate elevation to the captaincy brought large sections of the crowd to their feet even in the warm-ups for Friday night’s meeting with Bolivia in Algiers.

It was more than nostalgia for a favourite entertainer, an icon across the Mena region. Brahimi received a similar ovation after his 70 minutes as creative hub of the side, 3-2 winners after a late flurry of goals, and he can anticipate more applause this evening when South Africa, bronze medallists at Afcon last month, visit the Nelson Mandela stadium in Baraki.

As a feelgood figurehead for a team in the doldrums, Algeria’s 2019 Afcon title having been followed by two group-phase exits at the continental championship, Brahimi’s recall works for Algeria. He has a respected place in a strong national tradition of stylists, with the wizardry of his dribbling, the vision in his passing and a back catalogue of success in European club football, chiefly during his long spell at Portugal’s Porto, where he won a league title and various player of the year awards.

But as a pathfinder for Algeria’s would-be brighter future, under a new head coach Vladimir Petkovic, Brahimi is hardly of an age to build a renaissance around.