 After a disappointing campaign by Algeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in which the team received much domestic criticism,
 failing to make it beyond the group stage, a controversial incident occurred at the end of the USA-Algeria game in which the USA secured victory in the last minute.Saïfi spotted journalist Asma Halimi, a female reporter who had written an article criticizing him in the newspaper "Competition".Saïfi and the journalist had previously been in a dispute because the journalist had translated and published an interview Saïfi had given.