World Cup Diary Day 19: Ramadan off the agenda for Algeria

Gary Meenaghan files from Brazil, where the topic of whether Algerian players would fast for Ramadan has become a contentious issue.

Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic answers questions at a press conference on Sunday at the 2014 World Cup. Thomas Eisenhuth / EPA / June 29, 2014

PORTO ALEGRE // The two posters inside the Fifa media centre at Estadio Beira-Rio were simple, but effective. One read “Ramadan Kareem”, the other – in French and Arabic – detailed a nearby restaurant selling halal foods and open after nightfall.

The Algerian media, gathered here for yesterday’s match with Germany, were welcoming of both.

Yet the subject of Ramadan and fasting has posed a thorny issue for the Algerians.

When the team captain Rafik Halliche was asked whether players would observe their fasts, he batted the question away.

“That is not for us to say; it is for officials,” he replied. And so the official sat next to him, coach Vahid Halilhodzic, was asked instead.

The Bosnia-born Muslim listened to the question from an English-speaking journalist and then promptly exploded, threatening to walk out of his news conference, calling the question disrespectful and claiming the Algerian media are trying to ruin his image and that of his family.

For the majority of the people crammed into the room, it was a surprising reaction to what had appeared a routine question, but when it later surfaced that his country’s national press had accused Halilhodzic of ordering his team not to fast, it became more understandable.

The Algerian football association even released a statement denying the report.

On the streets of Porto Alegre, a city that is home to large communities of Lebanese and Palestinians, life continued according to custom, with Muslims fasting and some even seen praying.

In the Algerian camp, only a select few know how the players are coping with the demands of the month-long Ramadan, and with the subject now off limits, that is unlikely to change.

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