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Key events
16 min Rayan Aït-Nouri goes to ground in a tussle with Amine Gouiri and the Algeria defender will need some attention. Nothing to suggest it is too serious though.
15 min Algeria take control of possession but are unable to find a promising entry into the final third with Jordan blocking up the space with two banks of red shirts lined up in a 5-4-1 formation.
13 min Jordan win the ball back deep in their defence and quickly unleash a counterattack. A three-on-one in favour of Algeria leaves Musa Al-Taamari with too much to do and the Jordan striker blazes away from outside the penalty area. A first shot on target.
11 min Algeria attacker Amine Gouiri closes down Nizar Al-Rashdan taking too long on the ball in the midfield as the pressure mounts on Jordan.
10 min Algeria knock the ball around the back to calm things down for a moment before looking for Riyad Mahrez standing on the last line of the Jordan defence. The Algeria captain spins on the first touch but shows a bit too much of the ball to allow Husam Abu Dahab to clear.
8 min Jordan captain Ehsan Haddad has been involved in everything whether defending on the last line or trying to pick the way through the midfield. He finds Ali Olwan charging down the right byline as Jordan earn a throw-in that soon goes to waste.
6 min The first corner goes to Algeria and forces the referee to step forward to stop the push and shove. The sternest word is saved for Jordan defender Nizar Al-Rashdan before his side head clear.
5 min Algeria attack at pace for a second time to force Jordan captain Ehsan Haddad to clear the danger down the right. A lively opening comes as no surprise.
3 min Algeria have woken up just as quickly. Attacker Amine Gouiri collects the ball inside the penalty area and immediately spins to his left to create space and get a shot away. Jordan keeper Yazeed Abulaila watches the ball crash into the side netting at the near post.
1 min An early free kick and an early chance for Jordan. Nizar Al-Rashdan breaks the line for a free header but the powerful strike is always heading wide of the near post.
Kick-off
Peeeeeep! Jordan decked out in full red get us under way against Algeria dressed in white with a splash of green in the World Cup Group J match at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
The players are standing arm-in-arm in between the oversized flags as the national anthems ring out in Santa Clara with kick-off now just a few minutes away.
In the meantime, here is a reminder of the starting XIs for each side.
Jordan: 1 Yazeed Abulaila (gk); 5 Yazan Al-Arab, 3 Abdallah Nasib, 4 Husam Abu Dahab; 23 Ehsan Haddad (c), 21 Nizar Al-Rashdan, 8 Noor Al-Rawabdeh, 20 Mohannad Abu Taha; 13 Mahmoud Al-Mardi, 10 Musa Al-Taamari, 9 Ali Olwan.
Algeria: 23 Luca Zidane (gk); 17 Rafik Belghali, 2 Aissa Mandi, 21 Ramy Bensebaini, 15 Rayan Aït-Nouri; 14 Hicham Boudaoui, 19 Nabil Bentaleb, 22 Ibrahim Maza; 7 Riyad Mahrez (c), 10 Farès Chaïbi, 9 Amine Gouiri.
Referee: Slavko Vincic
“‘Everything is red, white and green in San Francisco’ must be painful reading for Italy fans in North Beach who are still mourning the absence of gli Azzurri from the tournament and the lack of little Italian flags decorating Columbus Avenue,” writes Peter Oh. A reminder to shoot me an email with your thoughts on the game or perhaps for those forced to watch on from afar.
Conditions are cooling at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium but it is still a balmy 19C as the players make their way to the tunnel with kick-off about 10 minutes away.
Lionel Messi banged in a double and claimed yet another slice of history as the reigning champions beat Austria to book their spot in the knockout phase. Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland have since matched the Argentinian with a pair of goals each to liven up the race for the golden boot between some of the biggest names in the game.
Everything is red, white and green in San Francisco as the fans get loud ahead of the warmups.
Algeria XI
23 Luca Zidane (gk); 17 Rafik Belghali, 2 Aissa Mandi, 21 Ramy Bensebaini, 15 Rayan Aït-Nouri; 14 Hicham Boudaoui, 19 Nabil Bentaleb, 22 Ibrahim Maza; 7 Riyad Mahrez (c), 10 Farès Chaïbi, 9 Amine Gouiri.
Coach Vladimir Petkovic makes a pair of changes to the XI that started against Argentina. Riyad Mahrez returns to the starting lineup and will lead the side against Jordan with attacker Anis Hadj Moussa dropping to the bench. Nabil Bentaleb has also been named among the substitutes with Ramiz Zerrouki adding a balance to the midfield.
And here is the customary mention that, yes, goalkeeper Luca Zidane is the son of the French World Cup great. Now that’s out of the way …
The Group I match has wrapped up, Norway hanging on after a late goal from Senegal. Norway’s coach Ståle Solbakken rushed up into the stands behind the dugout the second the whistle blew, finding his partner to celebrate with as his team confirmed they spot in the last 32. And now the whole Norwegian team is sitting in front of the fans joining them for a row.
Jeff Reuter has all the reaction here:
Jordan XI
1 Yazeed Abulaila (gk); 5 Yazan Al-Arab, 3 Abdallah Nasib, 4 Husam Abu Dahab; 23 Ehsan Haddad (c), 21 Nizar Al-Rashdan, 8 Noor Al-Rawabdeh, 20 Mohannad Abu Taha; 13 Mahmoud Al-Mardi, 10 Musa Al-Taamari, 9 Ali Olwan.
Coach Jamal Sellami swings two changes from the defeat to Austria with centre-back Husam Abu Dahab brought into the starting XI to add an aerial presence in place of Mohammad Abualnadi, while emerging talent Odeh Al-Fakhouri also drops to the bench with versatile veteran Mahmoud Al-Mardi added to the attack.
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The stadium is slowly starting to fill in San Francisco and the teams have checked out the pitch.
Senegal are creating storm of activity on the field at the New Jersey/New York Stadium but in Philadelphia there was a real live storm that delayed France and Iraq by two hours.
Paul MacInnes was there and reports that despite the interruption in Pennsylvania, France brushed past the physical challenge of Iraq with ease, furthering Kylian Mbappé’s personal duel with Lionel Messi in the process.
Well I was about to write that Senegal are still pushing Norway in the eight minutes of added time left. And they’ve just gone and scored! It’s not over yet in New Jersey.
Allow me to return to Messi briefly. Despite missing a penalty in the 9th minute, the Argentinian captain quickly turned things around to score his 17th World Cup goal later in the first half, passing Miroslav Klose’s goals record.
Pablo Iglesias Maurer writes that there was a moment where “one began to wonder – was this simply not Messi’s day?”
The Algerian and Jordanian teams have arrived. An hour-and-a-quarter to go until kick-off in this one.
There’s a quarter of an hour left in Norway v Senegal in New Jersey. Erling Haaland making things very difficult for Senegal. You can follow the match live with Jeff Reuter:
While acknowledging that the moment was “special”, Messi didn’t let himself get too excited.
Like I’ve said other times, I enjoy playing, having a good time on the pitch.
Earlier today, Messi’s Argentina met Austria in the other Group J match in Dallas.
Messi turned his march into a run and created history with his two goals placing him well clear as the top all-time World Cup goalscorer.
Nick Ames was at Dallas Stadium for the historic moment in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria.
It had to be Lionel Messi, it had to be on this day and perhaps it even needed to be in Dallas too. History was created in the way he knows best, a clinical left-footed flourish setting him out on his own as the World Cup’s highest goalscorer of all time. An occasion that already throbbed with an epic, cinematic quality had its moment for the ages and the genius who served it up will surely provide even more. A first golden boot would not be the worst present for an icon who turns 39 on Wednesday.
Algeria were immediately on the back foot when opening their tournament campaign against reigning champions Argentina and with a certain Lionel Messi on the march toward the all-time World Cup goalscoring record. But Vladimir Petkovic’s side will get a better idea of their prospects of reaching the knockout phase in their clash with Jordan.
Jonathan Wilson has considered what Algeria – as well as the other nine African teams at this World Cup – need to do in North America to justify the doubling of the number of World Cup spots handed to Caf for this edition.
No region benefited as much from the expansion of the World Cup as Africa. In Qatar in 2022, five of the 32 slots (16% of the field) went to the Confederation of African Football (Caf). Of the 48 slots this time around, nine went automatically to Caf, and they secured a 10th when DR Congo beat Jamaica in an interconfederational playoff in March. Caf had lobbied for years for more representation, arguing it was unfair that it had only five slots for its 54 members, while Conmebol, the South American confederation, had four plus a playoff for 10 members (21% of the field). The response was that Conmebol sides had won the World Cup nine times, while Caf sides had only made the quarter-finals on three occasions. By the end of the last World Cup, Conmebol were up to 10 victories and Caf had its first semi-finalist.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup match between Jordan and Algeria at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Kick-off in this Group J game is 8pm local/11pm EDT/4am BST/1pm AEST – or 4am in Algeria and 6am in Jordan for those following from the lands of the competing teams.
This looms as a crunch clash for both Jordan and Algeria which could make or break their hopes of reaching the knockout phase. Jordan are still searching for a first win during their World Cup debut after pushing Austria in a rollicking, end-to-end affair before falling behind to a second-half own goal then giving up a late penalty in a 3-1 defeat. Lively attacker Ali Olwan scored the nation’s first World Cup goal while Musa Al-Taamari looked especially threatening on the counter. But the greater concerns for Jordan tend to be at the other end with the No 68-ranked side conceding multiple goals in each game across a five-match winless run.
Algeria were quickly pushed into a supporting role in their World Cup opener as Argentina great Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 triumph for the reigning champions. The defensive cracks are unlikely to be exposed in the same way against Jordan and it must be remembered that head coach Vladimir Petkovic had steered the side to 21 wins, four draws and only three defeats from 28 matches – including a friendly victory over the Netherlands – before facing Argentina. The No 29-ranked side have firepower up front with veteran Riyad Mahrez out to make his mark on the tournament and young midfielder Ibrahim Maza pulling the strings.
I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news – and the latest from the World Cup. In the meantime, get in touch with any questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
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