England takes on Algeria on the 23rd June in their second fixture of Group C in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It will be the first ever meeting between the two Nations.

The match is due to take place in Cape Town and will be the second match for both teams and in theory should decide one way or another of which teams are likely to qualify for the next phase.

The two teams have little in common, with the most common denominator being the fact that they have both recorded recent victories over African Nations Cup Champions, Egypt. England beat the Egyptians at Wembley earlier this year in a friendly at Wembley and Algeria beat them in their African World Cup qualifying Group, which of course saw them make it to South Africa. But what else makes up the Algerian profile?

In fact Algeria have played Egypt four times in the last 12 months or so, winning twice and losing twice, but the very fact that they were one of the few African sides to beat them at all make them a team to be respected and one capable of surprises. Despite finishing 4th in the 2010 African Nations Cup, their recent results show them to be a team of inconsistency that can play really well one day and fail to turn up the next.

Apart from the victories over Egypt, Algeria’s biggest win of the year came in the quarter final of the African Nations Cup against the highly regarded, Ivory Coast, complete with Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Saloman Kalou. They won that match after extra time by 3-2, which included a goal from Madjid Bougherra, who plays for Glasgow Rangers.

In their most recent match they were heavily outplayed by Serbia in a friendly game held in Algiers, which they lost 3-0. Their final World Cup warm up games will be held in Dublin when they take on Ireland, followed by a visit to Germany, when they take on the UAE. They open their World Cup account against Slovenia on 13th June in Polokwane.

Algeria are captained by Yazid Mansouri who plays for French side, Lorient and who made 14 appearances for Coventry City in the English Championship in 2003. Other players who will be known in some places in England are Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda, who both played for Portsmouth recently. Hameur Bouazza is a recent recall to the Algerian squad who is currently on the books at Blackpool and Kamel Ghilas a striker is currently on the books at Hull City.

The main goal threat offered by Algeria would appear to come from Rafik Saifi a journeyman striker who has played predominantly in the French Leagues. He has an impressive strike rate for Algeria, with 19 goals from 60 appearances but he is getting close to his sell by date at 35 years old.
Algeria is managed by Rabah Saadane who is in charge of the National side for the fifth time since 1981.

1982 was the best ever World Cup played by Algeria, it was in this tournament where they had their most famous victory defeating eventual Runners up that year, West Germany by 2-1 in the opening Group games. They also defeated Chile in the Group stage, giving them four points, usually enough to secure qualification into the next phase. However, due to a very controversial outcome to the final Group game played between the Germans and Austria, the Algerians were eliminated.

Author Bio: Full preview of the England v Algeria match. Team news, scores and more.

Category: Sports
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