Pre-game Match 38: United States vs Algeria, June 23

Not impressed.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=285630&cc=5901

 

neither are they ...

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2009/07/mexico-5-usa-0-a-look-back.html

of all people u should know better not to judge on this sole poor performance, everyone has a bad hair day...

 

why me of all people?

 

Algeria had 9 of 11 starters the same in their game against Malawi as from the World Cup Qualifying clinching 1-0 victory over Egypt on November 18. The cream of the Algerian crop got destroyed by Malawi.

The United States had 0 of 11 starters the same in their 5-0 loss to Mexico as from the 3-2 Confederations Cup Final loss to Brazil. In fact, no American player in that 5-0 loss played 1 single minute in the entire Confederations Cup - which was before the Mexico game. A few 2nd stringers, mostly 3rd and 4th stringers and two 7th or 8th stringers got crushed by Mexico.

 

I watched that game as I was snowed in.

I know it was a bad day and there was about 20 people watching and they did beat Egypt in the qualifiers - but Algeria were just awful.

Malawi were supposed to be there to make up the numbers and once they got that luckyu goal and found their confidence they took them to pieces.

In my mind there is no comparrison with the USA vs Mexico game. This was a team they were supposed to beat easily not a top 20 ranked fifa team like Mexico.

We'll see how they get tomorrow vs Mali, but Algeria look fragile to say the least

 

u know when they say the keeper is half the team? or some bs like that, well there u go, their starting keeper had an appendectomy he was evacuated hours before the starting eleven was to be announced, he was duly declared ineligible for this competition. this was a huge blow for the team this meant they were stuck with the next substitute in line Chaouchi even though he pulled great saves in the Sudan play off and produced an overall solid performance, he still remains an inexperienced goal keeper with only 3 caps to his credit i dont know how many perkins had in the gold cup but judging by the heavy scoreline it wasnt any better....this guy (chaouchi) known to have great untapped potential, is a very unpredictable goalie, capable of the best and the worst, in the Algerian division 1 league for instance, he regularly pulls some crazy plays and shit, but sometimes it backfires on him,that monday was one of those days, they might as well have played with an empty cage.

Two of the three goals scored by Malawi can be blamed on him, that being said, the rest of the team seemed unwilling, slow and unable to construct decent attacks, sure it was hot and everything but this was to be expected, so no excuses there they were simply underprepared and a little bit on the pompous side...i wont even discuss the poor coaching decisions, a game to forget... however it's worth noting only three players in the squad took part in this competition before (2004) the rest are all AFcon virgins but then Malawians havent competed for 26 years, and since bad luck never comes alone according to teh latest news Meghni(M) and Yahia(D) two great invaluable assets are declared ineligible for teh remaining two games due to injuries...the deserved 3-0 mauling is a blessing in disguise, it ll remind them why they r here and how long it took them to be here, catch the match agaisnt Mali on Thursday 14 and hopefully they will bring their A game and show us their true fighting spirit, they have no other choice anyways as a draw or a loss will most likely mean an early exist from teh competition.

 

yeah they were awful period, it surprised all of us as this is the first time they played like one legged men, however i ll give em the benefit of the doubt because i know their true potential, but i have to say that there are no more weak teams in Africa per se, sure u have your 5 or 6 usual suspects making up the top tier, but teams like Zambia, Gabon Malawi Burkina faso they recently all showed quality football, and are not to be underestimated as the Algerians did with Malawi the so called minnow. in the last few Months/weeks Malawi held CIV Ghana and Egypt to a draw and beat Mozambique and Algeria, tonight am sure Zambia will pull an upset over Tunisia, yesterday egypt trashed Nigeria 3-1 and as i write this post Gabon is 1 goal ahead of Cameroon, it's amazing how since the beginning of the competition no world cup bound team has won a single game yet...maybe Cameroon if they manage to turn this game but so far theres a weired pattern in progress...point is it ll be foolish to use this competition as reference to determine the worth of a team as a reminder in 2006 Ghana nicknamed the Brazilians of Africa didnt even come outta the group stage, but half a year later they had a terrific world cup run and were considered the best African team that year, Welcome to Africa

 

To be honest the side that played in Egypt 2006 was a second tier side, cuz of injuries. Come to think of it... The same thing is happening again.

 

So is the tournament of shocks then?

Big game for Algeria today - maybe we will see their true colours as I have to say didn't know all the details of the prep and team changes - I just watched the game.

Watched the Cameroon vs Gabon game again yesterday thanks to the British weather and Cameroon looked like they ran out of ideas in the end. I always fancied Gabon to pull a shock as they were going really well in the qualifiers before the enforced break lost them momentum.

 

I don't think the Malawi match is anything to focus on. Besides the backp keeper, Algeria were also stupid in their preparations - they went and trained in France (during the middle of Europe's winter) for a tournament in Angola, which is in the middle of their summer, so they weren't ready to play in such heat. To make it worse, it was against Malawi, which is near Angola and they are used to that type of weather at this time of year.

But they still made it through and I think their match against Cote d'Ivoire in the quarterfinals will tell us a lot more about their quality.

 

Egypt 4 - Algeria 0.

Algeria are a truly dire team apart from a few fluky results. Whenever they've come up against a determined team they've fallen apart at the seems.

They had a player sent off fairly early in the game yesterday for two yellow cards and their keeper should of also been sent off in the incident for trying to headbutt the ref in an argument.

Although it was a yellow card offence the first yellow card he picked up was unfair and an even more questionable penalty. I think it should have been retaken.

They then fell to pieces and put on probably the most unprofessional football display I think I've ever seen in an international.

To top what was already a dreadful display they got anther 2 players sent off and could of easily had more players sent off.

Truly, truly dire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8483733.stm

 

I wouldnt read too much in their 4-0 beating, because there were a lot of off the field BS involved in the build up between the players. Zidan was saying things like if we beat them we can have a great summer because this will truly show we are better than them and they got into the world cup by luck. It def got the better of the Algerian players and they just went psycho after the 1st red card. The game was ok even when it was 11 v 10, you certainly wouldnt have counted them out at that point.

You have to look at their game vs Mali and Ivory Coast for a better judgment of what they can do. They play as a team, they get you to lose possession in the midfield and launch the counter attack, they really couldve beaten the Ivory Coast by 2-3 goals had they taken their chances better in that game.

I think a lot of US fans are taking this the same way we approached the Ghana game, possibly the weakest amongst the african qualifiers, but regardless could be dangerous for us.

 

Algeria I think that this game will prove to be a tough task for them against the United States but that I think that Algeria can pull it off and beat the USA because everybody seems to be underestimating Algeria in this match which is not a good thing to do, trust me. Because Algeria they are a team that no one should take lightly in this group, as I think Algeria could be darkhorses to advance from this group by beating the USA because their style and pace and their team quality, I see Algeria pulling off an upset here by beating the USA but just barely by 1 goal, 1-0 victory for Algeria

 

American fans might underestimate Algeria, but there is no way the American coaches or players will. They understand what it's like to be an underdog.

 

1-2-3 Viva l'Algerie

 

usa 2 algeria 0

this is the year of usa

 

Two sets of teammates made the squads for the two teams - will they play?

Bradley and Matmour at Borussia Moenchengladbach
Edu (Beasley) and Bougherra at Rangers

 

I sense Algeria going an ugly 3 and out, which leaves the other 3 teams in the group to fight it out. USA - Slovenia may turn out to be more important than England-USA.

 

Yep I pretty much agree with this. Sorry Algeria but I just don't see it from what I've seen in these friendlies, the weakness of Algeria with the strengths of U.S. and Slovenia...seems like a daunting task.

 

This is shaping up as a great match. The Desert Foxes will have a lot of confidence after their performance today -except in one area: goal scoring. USA has to feel great about their second half performance against Slovenia.

Both teams are through to the knockout stage with a win. USA can go through with a tie (unless England wins by 2 or more goals).

 

After today's matches, I refuse to make any sort of predictions for the remaining games in the group, I just hope the USA wins. All the pressure will be on the USA though, and I would not be surprised if they let in an early goal again (but I will be FURIOUS). Algeria showed they are more than competent when they play well. Hopefully Bradley looks at what worked and what didn't in the first two matches and comes out from the start with a solid lineup. Clearly something was clicking in the second half against Slovenia. Everyone has a chance to get out of the group...always nice to have meaningful third matches for everyone.

 

One thing I will ask for: no bullshit in this one. Whatever the result may be, let it be a fair reflection of what occured in the match.

Plain and simple if the USA win this we're set. So win it. Please.

 

And I think there's a scenario where an Algeria win does not see them through to the second round. If England win 1-0 and Algeria wins 1-0, then both Algeria and Slovenia would be on 4 points with the same goal differential, but Slovenia would take second based on goals scored.

Of course, I'm hoping this does not come to pass.