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The Algeria national football team, nicknamed Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes) and also moharibou essahra (desert warriors), is the national team of Algeria and is controlled by the Fédération Algérienne de Football. It made two consecutive World Cups in 1982 and 1986 and lifted the African Nations Cup in 1990 as the host country. [edit] History[edit] 1957: The Beginnings of Algerian FootballThe Algerian national team was formed in clandestine circumstances in 1958 when Mohamed Boumezrag, a leader of a section of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) of Algeria based in metropolitan France, returned from the 1957 World Youth Festival, in which a team representing Algeria, then a French colony, had taken part in an unofficial football tournament. Using the contacts he had made during the tournament, Boumezrag recruited ten, and eventually thirty, of the best-known French-based Algerian professional players to secretly leave the country and go to Tunisia where the Algerian national team was formally established on April 13. The world football governing body FIFA later announced after protest from the French Football Federation, that any team that played the Algerians would be expelled from the World Cup, while the French government succeeded in arresting other players who tried to leave the country to join the team. Despite these obstacles, the Algerian FLN team played 91 matches over the next four years and helped win international recognition for the Algerian struggle for independence. After the nation gained independence in 1962, membership of FIFA and official international fixtures became possible, the first sanctioned match being against Bulgaria in January 1963, and the first competitive internationals were in the qualification tournament for the 1968 African Cup of Nations. On August 17, 1971, in Libya, the national team recorded its largest victory in its history by beating South Yemen by a score of 15 to 1. However, on April 21, 1976 in Cottbus, Germany, the team recorded its largest defeat by a score of 5 nil against West Germany. From 1970 to 1978, the Algerian team did not qualify for any international competition. During this time however, Algeria wins the gold medal at the 1975 Mediterranean Games and 1978 All Africa Games [edit] 1980-1990: Apogee of Algerian FootballDuring the 1980 African Nations Cup, Algeria finished runner-up with the following results: after a draw against Ghana (0-0), it defeats both Morocco (1-0, with a goal by Lakhdar Belloumi) and Guinea (3-2, with goals by Hocine Benmiloudi and a double by Tedj Bensaoula); in the semi-finals, they beat Egypt in a penalty shoot-out (2-2, pk 4-2, with goals by Salah Assad and Hocine Benmiloudi), in the final, Algeria is defeated by Nigeria by the score of 3-0. In the 1982 African Cup of Nations Algeria finishes fourth and qualifies for the 1982 World Cup. [edit] World Cup 1982In El Molinón in Gijon,Spain, Lakhdar Belloumi scored the winner for Algeria against the champions of Europe, West Germany. Spain 82 was littered with shocking results: Northern Ireland beating Spain, Cameroon team holding Italy, Poland and Peru to draws, Belgium beating Argentina in the opening game; but nothing beats the majesty of Algeria beating West Germany. The Germans were in the midst of an imperious run that would see them reach three straight finals, while bowling all before them with a clinical, meticulous brand of football. Jupp Derwall – only West Germany’s third coach in forty years – famously said he would jump into the Mediterranean if Algeria won. They did, and he didn’t. This win was overshadowed by a later result in the same group, arguably almost as shocking. On the brink of becoming the first African team to reach the second-phase of the World Cup, Algeria were robbed by the infamous game between Austria and the same West Germans. That game saw the Germans ‘beat’ the non-trying Austrians 1:0, eliminating Algeria, and forcing FIFA to change the order games were played in. No longer would matches take place at different times, yet that was no comfort to Algeria. [1] [edit] World Cup 1986In 1984, Algeria takes third place in the 1984 African Nations Cup in Cote d'Ivoire. During the 1986 African Nations Cup, the national teams records two defeats and one draw and is eliminated in the first round. In Mexico, at the 1986 World Cup, the Algerians are not able to pass the first round once again in a group that included Northern Ireland (draw 1-1), Brazil (loss 1-0) and Spain (loss 3-0). Only one Algerian managed to score during this competition: Djamel Zidane. From thereon, Algeria has not managed to qualify to another World Cup. [edit] African Nations Cup 1990In 1990, Algeria hosts the 1990 African Nations Cup. In group A, the Algerians first first by beating Nigeria (5-1, with doubles by Djamel Menad and Rabah Madjer and a goal by Djamel Amani), Cote d'Ivoire (3-0, with goals by Djamel Menad, Tahar Cherif El Ouazzani and Cherif Oudjani) and Egypt (2-0, with goals by Amani and Moussa Saib). In the semi-finals, Algeria beats Senegal 2-1 (goals by Menad and Amani in front of 85,000 fans in the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 In the final, in the same stadium, in front of 200,000 fans, against Nigeria, Cherif Oudjani, in the 38th minute, enables Algeria to win the African Nations Cup for the first time. Djamel Menad is crowned top scorer of the competition with 4 goals. [edit] 1990-2008: The walk through the desertHaving won an African Nations Cup title, the Algerian team however had not managed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. In 1991, the national team won the Afro-Asian Cup of Nations against Iran. As title holders, Algeria disappointed at the 1992 African Nations Cup in Senegal recording a loss against Cote d'Ivoire (0-3) and a draw against Congo (1-1, with a goal by Nacer Bouiche). In 1994, Algeria was disqualified from the 1994 African Nations Cup in Tunisia due to the use of an ineligible player and failed during the 1994 World Cup qualifiying. In 1996, Algeria returned to African Cup of Nations but was eliminated by the hosts South Africa in the quarter-finals. The Algerians failed to qualify for the following World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006. During the 1998 African Cup of Nations Algeria finished last in its group with three defeats and was eliminated in the group stage. The 2000 African Cup of Nations the fennecs managed to pass to the first round only to lose to Cameroon (2-1). Algeria once more failed to pass the first round in the African competition in 2002 but manages to get to the quarter-finals in 2004 but was eliminated by Morocco by the score of 3-1 after extra-time (the lone Algerian goal was scored by Abdelmalek Cherrad. Algeria failed to qualify to following two Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008. [edit] The road to South AfricaOn October 11, 2008, Algeria returns amongst the top 20 African teams by finishing first in its group ahead of Senegal, Gambia and Liberia for the second round on the combined 2010 World Cup and 2010 African Cup of Nations qualifications. In the third and final round of the qualifiers Algeria was joined by Zambia, Rwanda and Egypt. In July 2009 Algeria made its return amongst the world's top fifty after a 3-1 win against the double African champions Egypt and a 2-0 win away against Zambia. Beating Zambia in Blida 1-0 followed by a 3-1 win against Rwanda, ensured that the qualification for the World Cup would go down to the wire with a final encounter against Egypt in Cairo where nothing less than a loss by 3 goals would stop the Fennecs from going to South Africa. This run of results also saw Algeria move to its highest FIFA ranking (29) one place behind Egypt in the October 2009 ranking. [edit] Algerian Football Achievements
[edit] Competitive Record[edit] World Cup Record
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