Algeria vs South Africa - Competition: Africa Cup of Nations, Group C
South Africa team did not qualify for the last World Cup and
were even kicked out as hosts on group stage in the 2014 African
Nations Championship. Considering that South Africa had won the
Africa Cup four times in the past, the last years were obviously very
disappointing for them, they also did not survive the group stage of the
2010 World Cup in their own country. But at least they managed to stay
unbeaten in a 2015 Africa Cup
qualifying group with Nigeria, Kongo and Sudan and are meanwhile
undefeated in eleven games since March 2014. Shakes Mashaba, who became
national coach in July 2014, nominated mostly players from teams of the
South African PSL. Striker Tokelo Rantie plays in
England for the Championship side AFC Bournemouth, defender Anele
Ngcongca for the Belgium team KRC Genk. Due to a knee injury defender
Patrick Phungwayo has been ruled out of the Africa Cup.
Algeria played a very good World Cup in summer, even
almost defeated world champions Germany when got beaten in the Round of
16 not before extra time. Most players of the young side were born and
educated in France and since Vahid Halilhodzic retired after the World
Cup, they now also have a French coach in Christian Gourcuff. The
‘Fennecs’ stand for an offensive short passing game and they do have
strong offensive players like Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Yacine
Brahimi (Porto), El Arbi Hillel Soudani (Zagreb), Islam Slimani
(Sporting) or Taider. On the other side their defence
is not the most solid and with Essaïd Belkalem (Trabzon) an important
central defender will miss the Africa Cup 2015 due to an injury. Algeria won
the first five games in the qualification, lost the only match in Mali
when were already qualified.
Match date: 19 January 2015
Kick Off Time: 19:00 GMT
Venue: Estadio de Mongomo
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