Christian Gourcuff (Algeria)

Succeeding Vahid Halilhodzic’s as coach of the Algerian national team was a tough ask, considering his impressive showing at the World Cup. Yet Christian Gourcuff has made it look easy, comfortably winning all three of his qualifying fixtures. Gourcuff has avoided the potential banana skin, by maintaining the same core of players. The jury is still out on just how far the former Lorient manager can take the North Africans, but early indicators hint very auspiciously towards success.