Algeria midfielder Mourad Meghni has been ruled out of this summer’s World Cup because of a knee injury.

Meghni, 26, has established himself as an important part of Rabah Saadane’s team but will now miss the tournament in South Africa to undergo surgery.

“I’m very sad about this,” said Meghni. “I’ve been fighting this injury for months but it didn’t heal properly.”

Algeria are in Group C along with the United States, Slovenia and England, who they face in Cape Town on 18 June.

Lazio midfielder Meghni’s withdrawal from the squad was decided at a meeting with the medical team of the Desert Foxes, including doctor Hakim Chalabi, coach Saadane and Mohamed Raouraoua, the president of the Algeria Football Federation (FAF).

“It would have been risky for me to play and things could have got even worse,” added Meghni.

“The decision was taken and I need to accept it. The doctors know what they’re doing and they gave their final say on the matter.

“The manner in which I was informed about it and the sadness on the face of the FAF [Algeria Football Federation] president somehow comforts me a bit because it showed me that I’m in a family.

“My team-mates also shared my sadness with me. Things didn’t work out, I have to accept this. I’m definitely sad but life goes on and I hope that the team makes it to the second round.”

Coach Saadane said that losing Meghni from his squad had been “very difficult”.

“We had put a lot into getting Mourad back [playing], he’s a very significant element in the team.

“But together with the medical team, knowing that he has little chance of recovering, we made the decision together that he must undergo an operation,” he said.

Saadane recently added five more players – ES Setif trio Lazhar Hadj Aissa, Hocine Metref and Khaled Lemmouchia, Mohamed Meftah of JS Kabylie and Amri Chadli, who recently signed for Kaiserslautern – to his 25-man provisional World Cup squad.

But Blackpool striker Hamuer Bouazza was excluded from the list as he is yet to recover from injury.

The Desert Foxes included Nadir Belhadj and Faouzi Chaouchi in their first provisional World Cup list even though they are set to miss games in South Africa.

Both men were dismissed during the semi-finals at the Africa Cup of Nations in January and handed bans.

Portsmouth defender Belhadj will miss the opening game with Slovenia as will number one keeper Chaouchi, who will also miss the game against England.

The other team in Algeria’s group is the United States.

“Selection has been a real headache but I wanted to keep the backbone of the team that got through to the semi-finals in Angola,” said coach Saadane.

There are only eight locally-based players in the squad, three of which are goalkeepers.

Each competing country is allowed a final 23-man World Cup squad, which has to be submitted to Fifa, no later than 1 June.

After their training camp in Switzerland the Desert Foxes will face the Republic of Ireland in a friendly in Dublin on 28 May and then the United Arab Emirates in Germany a week later.

Algeria squad:

Goalkeepers: Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Faouzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (MC Alger), Rais M Bolhi (Slavia Sofia, Bulgaria)

Defenders: Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Madjid Bougherra (Rangers, Scotland), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio, France), Rafik Halliche (Nacional Madeira, Portugal), Anther Yahia (Bochum, Germany), Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer, France), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth, England), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce, Italy), Hocine Metref (ES Setif), Mohamed Meftah (JS Kabylie)

Midfielders: Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth, England), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santander, Spain), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient, France), Adlene Guedioura (on loan at Wolverhampton, England from Charleroi, Belgium), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux, France), Djamel Abdoun (Nantes, France), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes, France), Karim Ziani (Wolfsburg, Germany), Karim Matmour (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Lazhar Hadj Aissa (ES Setif), Khaled Lemmouchia (ES Setif)

Strikers: Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena, Italy), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens, Greece), Rafik Saifi (Istres, France), Amri Chadli (Kaiserslautern, Germany)