Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi praised Monaco striker Islam Slimani after a 1-1 friendly draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, while criticizing other unnamed players.
The 31-year-old, who joined Monaco from Leicester on loan, opened the scoring six minutes into the game but Cedric Bacampo leveled in the 26th minute.
"Soleimani is working for the team, and with his mentality he will break the record of Abdelhafid Tassaoufa (the Greens' top scorer through the ages)," Belmadi said.
Soleimani is the second-highest scorer in the Algerian national team after Tassafout, who defended Algeria between 1990 and 2002.
Suleimani had previously played for JS Cheraga and CR Belouizdad in Algeria, before catching the eye in Europe with Sporting Lisbon.
Belmadi, who led Algeria to the African Nations Cup title in Egypt this year after beating Senegal 1-0 in the final, criticized the performance of some of his players, without naming them.
"I was waiting for a better performance than some names, but I won't mention them by name," he told a news conference after the match.
Belmadi, who took charge of Algeria in August 2018, brought in some reserve players from the start, giving goalkeeper Izzedine Doukha, Elias Hassani and Zinedine Farhat.
After a modest performance, Belmadi turned to the trio of Riad Mehrez, Youssef Attal and Youssef Blaili, but the changes did not bring anything new.
"We were lacking in speed and the game against Colombia would be a real test for us," Belmadi added.
It is noteworthy that Algeria will play against Colombia next Tuesday in the French city of Lille.
Algeria begin their African Nations Cup qualifiers next month against Zambia in Group H, which also includes Botswana and Zimbabwe.