{"id":33303,"date":"2026-04-29T13:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33303"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:57:07","slug":"algeria-face-goalkeeper-crisis-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/algeria-face-goalkeeper-crisis-ahead-of-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Algeria face goalkeeper crisis ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Algeria\u2019s World Cup build-up has taken a serious hit after first-choice goalkeeper Luca Zidane was injured during a league match in Spain.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old, who plays for Granada CF, suffered fractures to his jaw and chin in a 4\u20132 loss to UD Almer\u00eda. He was taken off with concussion and is now expected to miss the rest of the season, with surgery still being considered.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His injury leaves coach Vladimir Petkovi\u0107 with a real concern, especially with the tournament around the corner. To make matters worse, back-up goalkeepers Anthony Mandrea and Melvin Mastil are also unavailable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33304,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33303","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Algeria\u2019s World Cup build-up has taken a serious hit after first-choice goalkeeper Luca Zidane was injured","published_date":"2026-04-29 13:55:32","news_description":"Algeria\u2019s World Cup build-up has taken a serious hit after first-choice goalkeeper Luca Zidane was injured","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33305,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33303\/revisions\/33305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}