In Lille, France, Algeria and Colombia meet each other on Tuesday evening in a friendly international match. Both countries have been undefeated for quite some time and naturally want to keep it that way!
Algeria:
2019 goes for football-loving Algeria, of course, the books are like a year with a golden edge, because De Woestijnvossen crowned itself as the African champion for the second time in history last summer. Attacker Baghdad Bounedjah shot his country in the final beyond Senegal, after which there was a genuine folk festival in Algeria and in France. Algeria is of course a former colony of France, and both countries still have strong ties with each other. Hundreds of thousands of Algerians live in France, and French (former) internationals such as Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe and Zinedine Zidane also have Algerian blood flowing through their veins.
For Algeria, the encounter with Colombia is not just a match, because the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille will be packed with Algerian fans. National coach Djamel Belmadi has therefore called on patches such as Sofiane Feghouli (Galatasaray), Islam Slimani (Monaco), Ismael Bennacer (AC Milan) and, of course, Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City). With them in their ranks, the success coach hopes to remain unbeaten for the seventeenth international match in a row. The last defeat dates from October 16 last year (Benin-out: 1-0), or almost a year ago.
Colombia:
With nine undefeated international matches in a row, Colombia is also working on a great series, although the South Americans will look back on this summer with mixed feelings. On the Copa America, De Koffieboeren were already eliminated in the quarterfinals, after Chile was right on its side in the penalty shootout series. Since then, the Colombians have been struggling with a slight post-Copa America dip, as the three subsequent practice international matches all ended in a draw. The meeting against Chile again last Saturday in Alicante in Spain ended in a bloodless 0-0. Colombia slightly dominated, but was unable to take revenge.
National coach Carlos Quieroz initially looked good, but is now somewhat under fire with the Colombian press. The Portuguese has a bit to blame for that by not including vedettes such as James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao. Allegedly, Rodriguez wanted to focus on conquering a base place at Real Madrid, while Falcao could indeed be said to say that the best is now over. With players like Alfredo Morelos (Rangers) and potential debutant Luis Sinisterra (Feyenoord), Quieroz is going to build a new team, though players like David Ospina (Napoli, 101 caps) and Juan Cuadrado (Juventus, 87 caps) provide the much needed experience .
