Algeria vs Russia Prediction - Will Russia Be Able To Defeat A Motivated Algerian Side?

Next Thursday, Algeria will measure forces with Russia at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba on a match that might decide which team will walk along with Belgium to the next stage of the competition.

After losing 2-1 to Belgium on their first match, the Algerian team managed to bounce back and defeat Korea 4-2 on a spectacular match that took place last Sunday night. The North African team controlled the first-half of the match and they were already leading 3-0 before the break, thanks to goals from Slimani, Halliche, and Djabou. Despite the Algerian side’s dominance, Korea tried to repel them and got their first goal after the break by H. Son, but the Asian side’s joy didn’t last long since Brahimi netted in the fourth goal for Algeria on the 62’ minute. After using a more conservative approach on the match against Belgium, Algeria’s head coach Vahid Halilhodzic implemented some changes on his team for the clash against Korea, by promoting a more attacking-prone Algerian side, with Brahimi acting as some sort of advanced playmaker behind the team’s forwards Slimani and Djabou, which worked out just brilliantly. In order to proceed to next round of the competition, Algeria could just need a draw against Russia if Belgium manage to defeat the Korean team on the other match.

As for Russia, things are far more complicated as they will need to defeat Algeria and hope for their “all-time” rivals, Belgium, to defeat Korea on the other match in order to grant a ticket to the Round of 16. Russia’s performances during the World Cup have been fairly disappointing so far. After a compromising 1-1 draw on their first match against Korea, the Russians weren’t able once again to defeat Belgium on the last Sunday’s match. Fabio Capello made some changes in his team, bringing in Kanunnikov to replace the experienced left midfielder Yuri Zhirkov and exchanging Eshchenko for Kozlov on the right side of the defence. His changes didn’t produce any positive results, although Kanunnikov was a pleasant surprise during the first-half.

For the match against Algeria, it is almost mandatory for “Don Fabio” to produce some deeper changes into his team. The team clearly needs the presence of a more experienced centre forward, such as Kerzhakov, and a more creative player in the centre of the pitch, such as Alan Dzagoev, in order to help the team build up the game from behind. Despite their recent underachieving performances, Russia are favourites for next Thursday’s match, although they need to be very careful with the Algerian team’s irreverence and bravery, if they don’t want to suffer another major upset.

Algeria

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

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Russia

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

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Possible Line-ups

Algeria (4-5-1) - M’Bolhi - Ghoulam - Halliche - Bougherra - Mesbah - Bentaleb - Taider - Djabou - Brahimi - Feghouli - Slimani

Russia (4-3-3) - Akinfeev - Yeschenko - Ignashevich - V. Berezutski - Kombarov - Glushakov - Shatov - Dzagoev - Zhirkov - Kokorin - Kerzhakov

Prediction: Algeria 0 Russia 1