Algeria
Algeria has been to the World Cup only three times in the past, but it has been many years since those qualifications. The Algerians struggled to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals. They won all of their home qualifying matches, but failed to perform when they were at away games. Algeria secured a spot in the group stage just one point ahead of Gambia, Senegal and Liberia.
The greatest assets of the Algerian team are their youthfulness. This younger squad is fast, agile, and strong. The youthfulness of the team makes up for a lot lack of experience, though mistakes are often made.
The weakness of the time is their inability to play away from home. Algeria does great at home as can be seen in the qualifying matches, but away from home becomes a great struggle.
A player in the Algerian backfield to look for is Antar Yahia. Yahia is an essential figure in the Algerian defense. The player to look out for in the midfield is Karim Ziani. Ziani is small, fast, and extremely agile. If you want to see leadership and experience, then look at the Algerian team’s veteran player, Rafik Saifi. Saifi soccer career is on the downward slope, but he has experience and still plays extremely hard.
Just making it to the World Cup Finals is an honor to Algeria. The best chance for a Group stage win is against Slovenia. That game will determine their success throughout the rest of the Group stage.
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