Madjid Bougherra’s days as an international footballer are numbered. Last autumn, Algeria’s captain announced that the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations was to be his last, and he would bade the Algerian public one last farewell in a post-tournament friendly in March.
When all was said and done, and the final whistle was blown against their quarter final match with Ivory Coast in which the Ivorian won 3-1, Bougherra had amassed
more than 70 caps and will forever be indisputably mentioned amongst Algeria’s all-time greats.
It has been a long thirteen-year career for the 32 year-old centre-half. Though he stands at a towering six-foot-three, and many swear he has the feet of a Brazilian regista, few clubs trusted in his abilities early on.
At the age of twenty, Bougherra played for Gueugnon in France’s lower divisions and it wasn’t at all sure that he would succeed as a professional footballer. He held a second job, working on construction sites and even considered a career as a police officer.
His first break came when the Algerian Olympic team called him up for a friendly against Ghana. On his debut he managed to score a winning goal against Ghana, and it was with that Olympic team that he forged lifelong friendships with Nadir Belhadj, Anthar Yahia, and Karim Ziani.
Ziani was the biggest name of the three, and though he regularly clashed with the administration at Troyes, most clubs in l’Hexagone kept a covetous eye on the pint-sized midfielder.
Turkish side Bucaspor were quite keen on signing the precocious Ziani, but during negotiations he stipulated Bucaspor give his friend Madjid Bougherra a trial prior to signing.
Bucaspor refused the request and Ziani decided to stay in France. Ironically it would be under current Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff – at Lorient, then in Ligue 2 – that he began to actualize his potential in France.
Such anecdotes are rare in modern football, but Bougherra and his teammates understood that they had an obligation to look after one another if Algerian football was to prosper. When Bougherra established himself as two-time player of the year at Rangers, for example, he convinced the club to sign Salim Kerkar, who himself was struggling at Gueugnon.
The gentle giant has kept that generosity throughout his career and it is what makes him the leader he is on and off the pitch.
In 2011, he was named UNICEF’s ambassador to Algeria. The Madjid Bougherra Foundation was founded just a year later and has been improving the lives of underprivileged children and impoverished families ever since.
Naturally, Bougherra has become one of Algeria’s most celebrated personalities. Yet if there’s one trait the public find most endearing about the man English crowds have dubbed ‘Magic’, it is his rage de vaincre.
In the biggest of fixtures, and at the tightest of moments, Bougherra has repeatedly assumed his responsibilities and single-handedly rescued Algeria from defeat. His goal against Burkina Faso, for instance, sent Algeria to their most successful World Cup in Brazil.
Other times, his effort was not suitably compensated, but it was nevertheless appreciated. After Algeria’s third player was sent off in that infamous 4-0 shellacking by Egypt three Cup of Nations ago, most players in white understandably gave up.
Some spent the final minutes traipsing about the extremities of the pitch. Djamel Abdoun tried convincing his teammates to boycott the remainder of the match, and he even sat on the ball for a few seconds in capitulation.
Bougherra rose above the poisonous atmosphere, demanded the ball and skipped past four Egyptians before being dragged down in opposition territory. The move had no bearing on the result but it added a pinch of pride and dignity in the worst of defeats.
But perhaps the best example of Bougherra’s rage de vaincre was in the same 2010 Africa Cup of Nations against Cote D’Ivoire. In the 89th minute of a 1-1 stalemate, Ivorian winger Kader Keita scored the goal of the tournament.
From an innocuous position, Keita found space and hit a thunderbolt from hell. Keita’s shot found the post-crossbar right angle and seemed to take Algeria’s chances of a semi-final berth with it.
If the match official was clement, Les Fennecs could mount one last attack. As soon as the ball was whistled into play, Bougherra took off for the opposition goal. The aforementioned Belhadj lofted a Hail Mary into the Ivorian penalty box that Bougherra steered into Copa Barry’s net.
On Sunday evening the quarterfinals play between Algeria and Cote D’Ivoire was evenly matched, but the Elephants out scored the resilient Desert Foxes that squandered two clear changes that could have won the game.
And with that Bougherra’s legacy was sealed, bringing is long and enviable international soccer career to an end.
