Thursday, June 26, 2014

World Cup 2014: Algeria joins Nigeria into round of 16

Islam Slimani
Islam Slimani opened the score-sheet against South Korea in a 4-2 win and ensured Algeria reach the round of 16 with an equaliser in Thursday's 1-1 draw with Russia (Photo Credit: Reuters) 
Algeria has joined fellow African side Nigeria into the the FIFA World Cup round of 16 after Thursday's 1-1 draw with group H opponents, Russia.

The draw means the Desert Foxes are making the knock-out stages of the finals for the first time in their history. 

Like Spain, England and Portugal, Russia joins the European contingent that crashed out of the competition at the group stage.

Both sides headed home wonderful goals, with Aleksandr Kokorin turning in a Dmitri Kombarov's cross 6 minutes into the game.

It took Algeria an hour to come from behind to settle for a draw, as Islam Slimani turn in a Yacine Brahimi free-kick in the 60th minute. 

Russia celebrate
Russia celebrates Aleksandr Kokorin's goal against Algeria (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
In the other game, group H winners Belgium defeated South Korea 1-0, a result that left the Asians packing out of the world cup.  

Algeria will now face group G winners Germany at the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre on June 30, while Belgium  takes on 2nd place USA a day after at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador.

 
The Desert Foxes campaign saw them lose 2-1 to Belgium in their opening match, secured a resounding 4-2 victory over South Korea, and drew 1-1 with Russia in final group match.

They are the second African team to reach the round of 16 after Nigeria - where Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana all went out in the group stages. 


Sofiane Feghouli scored Algeria's first world cup goal in 28 years against Belgium on June 17. Algeria qualified for the world cup four times in 1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014 but only managed to come out of the group for the first time.

Written by Modou S. Joof

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