With the 2014 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, Soccer Laduma take a look at the profiles of each team in Group H. Today, we profile the African team in the Group H – Algeria.
Group H – Algeria
World Cup history
The Algeria national team has been in existence for 52 years. The Greens were founded in January 1962. The team joined FIFA in January 1964.
The 2014 tournament is the fourth FIFA World Cup that the team has qualified for. The side previously qualified for the 1982, 1986 and 2010 World Cups. But unfortunately, Algeria never progressed further than the first round of the World Cup.
2010 World Cup campaign:
Algeria had a bad tournament at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They collected just one point from the three games they played.
They lost 1-0 to Slovenia in their first game. Their only point of the tournament came after the 0-0 draw with England in their second game of the group.
Algeria lost their third and final group game 1-0 to the United States. Algeria was one of the two teams that failed to score a goal during the tournament along with Honduras.
How they qualified:
Algeria beat Burkina Faso 1-0 in their World Cup play-off second leg game on their way to qualify for the Brazil tournament. They qualified on the away goals rule, after a 3-3 aggregate draw between the two sides.
Algeria were the first African side to have their place at the 2014 World Cup confirmed.
Key players:
Sofiane Feghouli is one of the exciting players in the Algeria squad. He plays for Valencia in the Spanish La Liga. Feghouli can play either as a winger on the right or as an attacking midfielder.
He has the ability to create and score goals. The 24-year-old is a former French youth international, who changed his alliance to Algeria.
Islam Slimani is a striker for Portuguese Primeria Liga side Sporting Clube de Portugal. Slimani made his international debut in 2012. The 25-year-old has 10 goals from 19 caps for Algeria.
Madjid Bougherra is expected to play an important role for Algeria in this year's competition, as the captain of the side. The 31-year-old is the oldest and experienced member of the squad. He has scored four goals in 62 caps for Algeria although he is a defender.
Coach:
Vahid Halilhodzic is an experienced coach who was regarded as one of the best Bosnian players in the 1970s and 1980s.
Among the successes he achieved at club level was when he won the 1997 CAF Champions League with Raja Casablanca.
He helped Cote d'Ivoire and Algeria qualify for the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups respectively.
Fixtures:
17 June – Belgium v Algeria – 18:00 – Estadio Mineirao
22 June – Korea Republic v Algeria – 21:00 – Estadio Beira-Rio
26 June – Algeria v Russia – 22:00 - Arena da Baixada
