The African qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, scheduled for Qatar in 2022, were in full swing earlier this month, with the major nations facing each other in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers.
The African champions Algeria started their campaign in good form and now have four points on the clock after the first two games of Group A. The Desert Foxes of Djamel Belmadi are currently the envy of the continent, their status royal testified by sparkling play, strong team ethics and an incredible winner mentality.
Their team spirit was evident on the breathtaking journey to the continental crown two years ago, but Algeria has arguably grown stronger since its victory over Senegal in Cairo. She aims to return to the premier league and recreate the inspiring journey of the 2014 round of 16 after missing Russia 2018.
Using Overlyzer’s in-game football stats and trend analysis using charts for each team, we take a look at how they ran their qualifying campaign up to now. Algeria are entering the record books with an almost three-year unbeaten streak, and appear well-prepared for the world’s biggest soccer tournament.
Algeria vs Djibouti (8-0)
The African champions started their journey to Qatar in sparkling form as they crushed Djibouti to ten, 8-0, tying the record for winning a World Cup qualifier in Africa.
They were helped by a quadruple from Lyon striker Islam Slimani, 33, which places him one place behind the country’s all-time goal scoring record. It’s inevitable and it’s only a matter of time before he makes this record his own.
Algeria took advantage thanks to Slimani and took control of the game after Batio Mohamed Youssouf was sent off for the visitors in the 25th minute. They smelled blood and ruthless North Africans stepped up the pressure.
After leading 4-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Ramy Bensebaini and Baghdad Bounedjah, Algeria was completely dominant and was keen to emphasize their superiority. Slimani stood out and scored another brace after the break before Riyad Mahrez added his name to the scoreboard. As might be expected, the Algerians kept pressing and Ramiz Zerrouki scored his first international goal soon after to seal the rout.
Overlyzer charts show that the home side got the lion’s share of the ball and their 67% possession was bolstered by eight goals from 13 attempts, they also registered 10 corners against none for their opponents.
The qualifying series couldn’t have started more flawlessly.
Burkina Faso vs Algeria (1-1)
On September 7, the winners of AFCON 2019 drew 1-1 at Burkina Faso in a match staged in Morocco due to lack of infrastructure in the West African country. Algeria entered the match with understandable confidence and opened the scoring sublime after 17 minutes. Youcef Belaili sent Slimani to the right with a nice pass and the forward crossed into the box for Soufiane Feghouli who scored from an empty goal.
Algeria kept control of the game after their goal and the graph shows that their opponents increased their pressure from the half hour mark. Burkina Faso showed more speed and precision in the second half. time, which ended up paying off thanks to a goal from Abdoul Tapsoba in the 64th minute.
Nonetheless, Algeria managed the game in the last 10 minutes, retaining 59% of the ball possession and taking more shots on goal.
The Burkinabés have been forcing themselves to gain the upper hand over their visitors, but the latter are of another level of quality and have ensured the points sharing, which allows them to stay ahead of Group A on goal difference.
More importantly for the Fennecs, they remain unbeaten for 29 games and face a double-face with Niger, starting with the home game on October 5, before negotiating the second leg four days later.
In case of victory over Niger, the Algerians could qualify for the match against Djibouti or Burkina Faso, but they will have to face Burkina Faso on the sixth day, especially since the Burkinabés will have faced Djibouti in their own double. October confrontation.
And who will be Africa’s torchbearers in Qatar 2022? Algeria always seems to be the team to beat. But first, it must show professionalism in eliminating Burkina Faso for the first place.
