ALGIERS (Reuters) - Goalkeeper Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche was the only exclusion as Algeria finalised their 23-man squad for the World Cup, dropping out of the party that had been preparing in Switzerland and Germany. Coach Rabah Saadane had named an original 25-man preliminary squad for pre-tournament preparations at altitude at Crans-Montana. The decision last week to withdraw Lazio midfielder Mourad Meghni because of persistent injury left him with just 24 players and Saadane had the simple tasking of reducing his goalkeepers from four to three for the trip to South Africa. The list includes nine players who have switched their allegiance from France to the north African country after previously being capped at junior level by the French. Algeria's squad features just three home based players and none from newly crowned league champions Mouloudia Alger. Algeria meet Slovenia on June 13 in their opening World Cup Group C match, followed by games against England and the United States. Squad: Goalkeepers: Faouzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Rais Ouheb Mbouli (Slavia Sofia). Defenders: Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer), Nader Belhadj (Portsmouth), Majid Bougherra (Rangers), Rafik Halliche ((Nacional), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce), Antar Yahia (VfL Bochum). Midfielders: Djamel Abdoun (Nantes), Ryad Boudebouz (Sochaux), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santander), Yazid Mansouri (FC Lorient), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg). Forwards: Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena), Karim Matmour (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Rafik Saifi (Istres). (Editing by Justin Palmer; To query or comment on this story email [email protected])
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