Algeria

The Algeria of Vladimir Petković have been difficult to evaluate given their wildly inconsistent form. They dominated a favourable group in World Cup qualifying and had an encouraging start to AFCON 2024, but were eliminated by Nigeria in the quarter-final with a woeful underperformance. Recent friendly results have been better, with a victory over the Netherlands engineered by shrewd halftime adjustments. Experiments are a recurring theme with Petković, who frequently changes up his possession concepts and takes a form-based approach to his team selection on any given day.

While Algeria's defensive shape tends to be compact, they have excellent players capable of making incisive transition passes. Petković's lineup tweaks have been about finding the right supporting cast to allow Rayan Aït-Nouri, Mohamed Amoura and Riyad Mahrez to operate in their comfort zone near the touchlines. Ibrahim Maza has proven himself the team's best playmaker and is a lock for the teamsheet. The box-to-box workrate of Hicham Boudaoui is also valuable to cover for the forwards (especially Mahrez, who rarely goes a full 90 minutes and is usually subbed off for Anis Hadj Moussa early in the second half). Nabil Bentaleb, back from a lengthy absence triggered by a heart attack in 2024, has outperformed Ramiz Zerrouki in the holding role, while Farès Chaïbi offers versatility and set-piece value.