For anyone not on the West Coast of the United States, it will be tempting to blow off the Algeria vs. Jordan match. With an 8pm kickoff in San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, it will be late Monday night in the more heavily populated Eastern and Central timezones. But this match could be a sleeper banger, and I’ll explain why.
Both teams are coming off losses in their opening games. This leaves them hungry to grab the all-important three points. More importantly, each side showed enough quality to accomplish that, which we’ll highlight below.
Algeria Are Better Than Their Last Match
Two of the most curious statistics to come out of Matchday 1 occurred in the Argentina vs. Algeria game. The first: that Algeria outpassed Argentina in their 3-0 loss, not just in attempts (609 to 563) but also in accuracy (92% to 90%). The second: Algeria registered more touches in the opposition box (12 to 10).
Of course, none of these accurately tell the story on how Lionel Messi beat them courtesy of two long-range strikes and a poacher’s finish after keeper Luca Zidane fumbled a free-kick. Under normal circumstances I could not envision Luca getting a start against Jordan, but Algeria’s two reserve keepers have three caps between them. Zidane’s eight makes him the “experienced” choice.
Of course, Zidane’s horrific performance wasn’t helped by the Desert Foxes attacking woes. They put zero of their seven shots on frame, but other attack statistics are promising. Over half of their passes were in the opposition half, and they completed eight dribbles on a 35% success rate. I suspect that all Algeria needs is that opening goal, and the floodgates could open.
The lynchpin of Algeria’s success lies with Rayan Aït-Nouri. The right back has blistering pace and lovely ball control, and his chemistry with winger Farès Chaïbi must be more fruitful than the last outing. Surely players of this caliber won’t fail a second time… right?
Manager Vladimir Petković also has a tough decision to make up front. Amine Gouiri had a moderately successful season notching 11g/5a in 28 games for Marseille, but he was practically invisible in the Argentina game. Does he go with Wolfsburg’s Mohamed Amoura as the lone striker, paired up with veteran Riyad Mahrez, at the start?
Algeria knows that Jordan represents their best chance to earn that crucial victory and shrink their negative goal differential.
Jordan: A Bright First-Timer
Debutante Jordan didn’t quite experience the fairy tale start of Cape Verde, but they did score a goal in their maiden World Cup match. They were arguably also the most dynamic of the newbies on the pitch, not shy about bringing intense energy and a front-foot attack at the Austrians. A crossbar and three big saves from Alexander Schlager denied them adding to their goal tally opened by a cracking shot from Ali Olwan in the 50th minute.
Ultimately, an unlucky deflection off defender Yazan Al Arab’s back from a corner gave Austria the lead. Then a very late penalty for handling, duly converted by Marko Arnautovic, made the scoreline seem far more one-sided than it actually was.
Since no players drew yellow cards, there’s no reason for manager Jamal Sellami to rotate his starters. Expect to see the same starting XI, and the same vibrant counter-attacking play that thrilled supporters in Santa Clara last week.
It goes without saying that Jordan have the same feeling about this match as Algeria: there’s three points for the taking.
The Hooligan Take
I suspect this match will be a wide-open, basketball style goal fest. In this type of contest, Jordan will emerge triumphant, prevailing over Algeria.
Algeria 2 – 3 Jordan
