In a match that revealed the literal meaning of the phrase “small details”, the Algerian national team fell to its Swiss counterpart by two goals to nil, in the African-European summit that brought them together at “PC Place” stadium in Canada, as part of the round of 32 qualifying competitions for the World Cup.
The match began with a clear advantage for the Desert Warriors, both in terms of possession and the threat to the goal. This was evident in the dominance of Ibrahim Maza, Fares Chaibi and Nabil Bentaleb in the midfield, in addition to the skirmishes carried out by Houssem Aouar and Riyad Mahrez in the final third of the field, which gave the impression that the first goal for the Greens was being cooked on a low flame.
But against the run of the game, the European team managed to snatch the lead goal, through a counter-attack led by the brilliant Johan Manzambi from the left side, until he penetrated the prohibited areas in the Algerian defense, to send a cross that Breel Embolo met with a touch into the net of goalkeeper Luca Zidane.
The Algerian response came in the 14th minute, with a daring attempt on the Swiss goalkeeper, which began with a run from Houssem Aouar, who passed the ball to captain Riyad Mahrez, who in turn fired a shot, but it went easily into the goalkeeper’s arms.
The pace of Vladimir Petkovic’s men rose more than ever in the last 10 minutes of the first half, which saw more than one clear chance, including a shot by Chaibi that hit the Swiss defense on its way to the net, followed by a strange shot by Maza with his right foot that went past the right post, while he was meters away from the six-yard box.
The same scenario as the first half was repeated, with the Swiss team scoring their second goal in the first minutes of the second half, due to a mistake by the Algerian defense in clearing the ball from the penalty area, which made it easy for Dan Ndobi, who had no difficulty in deceiving Zidane Jr., with a powerful shot into the far right corner.
As time went on, the physical decline of Riyad Mahrez and his teammates became evident, and the opposite was true for the Swiss team, which intensified its pressure in the final minutes to clinically kill the match with the third mercy bullet. However, Rafik Belghali was successful in clearing the Swiss striker's shot off the goal line, and a few minutes later Zidane saved another similar opportunity. The match then ended with Switzerland winning 2-0 against Algeria, setting up a date with the winner of Ghana and Colombia in the epic round of 16.
