With a World Cup ticket already in hand due to its comfortable win Thursday against the modest Somalian team, the Algerian football selection had to finish the qualifying phase on a positive note on Tuesday, at the Aït Ahmed stadium in Tizi Ouzou, against the Ugandan national team. It managed to do so, laboriously, without convincing.
Whatever the means, some would say, victory is what’s important. Be that as it may, purists would have preferred to watch a better final match, especially that this qualification to the North American Word Cup was to be celebrated at the end of the game against Uganda.
Victory was slow to take shape. It took patience until additional time for Les Verts to gain the upper hand on the Ugandans. Cornered and under sustained pressure, the Ugandan team, defensively solid and well organized, ended up faltering and making mistakes, conceding two penalties.
Mohamed Amoura gets the better of Mohamed Salah
Ugandans were the first to score. They caught the Algerians off guard, to whom the game had no stake. Uganda scored as soon as the 6th minute from a counter, against which Lucas Zidane, making his first start with Les Verts, couldn’t do anything. Steven Mukwala was the name on the scoresheet.
Mahrez, who had a decent game, and his teammates tried everything to get back into the game, to no avail. In front of the opponent’s goal, they got either unlucky or acted too hastily. It wasn’t until the 81st minute that Amoura equalized from a penalty, before putting Algeria ahead from another in additional time (90+9). These two new goals by the Algerian forward make his tally rise to 10 during this qualifying round and put him ahead of the Egyptian Mohamed Salah, who only scored 8.
The next AFCON to toughen up
If the Algerian team includes players with undeniable quality and potential, such as Amoura, Gouiri, Maza, Boudaoui and Hadjem, not to mention the captain, Mahrez, it continues nevertheless to lack in cohesion. Coach Petković and his staff still have a lot of work ahead to make up for shortcomings and build a team capable of competing against the best ones on planet football.
Having played the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in a relatively easy group, the Algerian team had little trouble qualifying directly for the final phase. However, in terms of gameplay, Les Verts revealed weaknesses that will need to be addressed. This is a task for the coaching staff. They have time for it. Soon, they will have the opportunity to test their squad’s progress. This will be at the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament that should allow the young Fennecs to toughen up ahead of the World Cup.
Back to North America, 11 years after the feat in South America
The Algerian football selection will return to the final tournament of the World Cup, which will be held during the summer of 2026 in the United States, Mexico and Canada, 11 years after having shown a good form at the Brazilian edition. In 2014, Les Verts, then headed by Vahid Halilhožić, reached the round of 16 where they lost against Germany after extra-time (2-1).
In Brazil, in 2014, Algeria took part in the World Cup for the 3rd time. Their very first participation dates back to 1982, in Spain. In Gijón, Belloumi, Madjer, Assad, Dahleb, Fergani, and their teammates dazzled the world with their high-level performance, still recorded in the annals of football today. The German team (FRG), one of the favorites for the trophy, surely remembers the defeat handed to them by the Algerians.
The Spanish epic and the Austro-German scheme
At the Spanish World Cup, the Algerian team was on track to go far in the tournament. They had the ability to do so. Had it not been for the scheme between the Germans and the Austrians, the Algerians would have advanced to the knockout stage. In the group stage, they won 2 games and lost one, totaling 4 points, the same as Germany and Austria. The latter two colluded on the score of their match, securing a better goal difference than Algeria. Following this scheme, FIFA had to change the rules, ensuring that the final group matches are now played simultaneously.
At the Mexican World Cup (1986) and the South African World Cup (2010), the Algerian team did not perform as they had in 1982. In both Mexico and South Africa, they finished last in their group. In each of these two participations, their best result was a draw. Thus, they ended at the bottom of the group with a single point (2 losses, 1 draw).
