World Cup Profiles – Group H: Algeria

Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic will finally be making his World Cup coaching debut after being fired from the top spot for Ivory Coast in 2010 just weeks before the competition started. 

Algeria travel to Brazil for their 4th World Cup. They first qualified in 1982 where they also gained their best finish of 13th. In 2010 they were knocked out of the group stages by the United States and finished 28th.

Algeria don’t have much of a squad. They’re not deep enough to have the quality it takes to move forward and lack discipline. (Now watch them surprise the hell out of me). Their qualifying was less than impressive. They had to go up against Burkina Faso, perhaps the weakest of the CAF teams, and only advanced thanks to away goals. The back four aren’t strong and the midfield isn’t very creative.

They do have a pretty decent defensive midfield, however. They provide good protection to the back four while supporting the midfield, and they do it fairly well. The team has looked a bit more settled in the back since qualifying. They’ll hope that can see them through.

Islam Slimani was Algeria’s most productive player. He scored 5 goals in 7 games during qualifying and earned himself a move to Sporting Lisbon last year. He only began playing for the national team in 2012 and already has 9 goals in his first 17 matches. He’ll need to be their leader up front.
Algeria squad

Head Coach: Vahid Halilhodžić (Yugoslav)

Goalkeepers: Rais Mbolhi (CSKA Sofia), Cedric Si Mohamed (CS Constantine), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (USM Alger)

Defenders: Essaid Belkalem (Watford, on loan from Granada), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwya Club), Liassine Cadamuro (Mallorca), Faouzi Ghoualm (Napoli), Rafik Halliche (Academica Coimbra), Aissa Mandi (Stade Reims), Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno), Mehdi Mostefa (AC Ajaccio)

Midfielders: Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham), Yasine Brahimi (Granada), Medhi Lacen (Getafe), Saphir Taider (Inter Milan), Hassan Yebda (Udinese)

Forwards: Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain), Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Nabil Ghilas (Porto), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Islam Slimani (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Hilal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb)

For additional information on Algeria, including World Cup 2014 match schedule & history check out these links.

– mygypsyspirit