Group H: Belgium vs Algeria
Venue: Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte
Kick-off: 5pm (1pm, Brazil time)
TV coverage: ITV1, from 4pm
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico)
Managers: Marc Wilmots (Belgium)
Vahid Halilhodzic (Algeria)
One to watch
Sporting Lisbon striker Islam Slimani top-scored for Algeria in qualifying with five and has an impressive 10 goals in just 19 games. A powerful front man and will be Algeria’s major attacking threat.
Familiar face
Take your pick from the Belgian line-up — 12 of their squad are owned by Premier League clubs, but there’s no doubt who the star man is. Eden Hazard had a sensational season for Chelsea. Can he keep it up on the world stage?
History lesson
Don’t expect goals from Algeria. They haven’t scored at the World Cup since 1986 and Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved 87.1 per cent of shots in qualifying.
Did you know?
On the eve of the last World Cup, Belgium were ranked 48th in the world. When the draw for 2014 was made, Belgium were 5th.
Head-to-head record:
Played 2, Belgium Wins 1, Draws 1
Opta stats:
- Belgium have won one of their last nine World Cup games (3-2 v Russia on June 14, 2002), drawing five and losing three. They have kept one clean sheet in these nine games: v Netherlands in 1998 (0-0).
- Belgium are unbeaten in their last two World Cup group stages, in 1998 and 2002 (W1 D5).
- Algeria have failed to score in their last five World Cup games, attempting 71 unsuccessful shots since their last goal on June 3, 1986 against Northern Ireland (1-1, Djamel Zidane with the goal).
- Belgium are unbeaten in two previous internationals against Algeria, winning one and drawing one (both friendlies).
- Thibaut Courtois saved 87.1 per cent of shots faced in the European qualifiers, the best ratio among goalkeepers who featured more than five times.
- Eight of Belgium’s last 14 goals at the World Cup have come from set-pieces (5 from a corner kick, 2 from a direct free-kick, 1 from an indirect free-kick).
- Only Spain (3) conceded fewer goals than Belgium (4) in the 2014 European World Cup qualifiers.
- The Red Devils are unbeaten in two previous World Cup games against sides from Africa, winning one and drawing one.
Please wait 2-3 minutes for stream to load, than locat small “x” to close the adverts and than you will be able to go into full screen. if stream won’t load try refreshing the page couple of times. If you see white space or steam dont want to load try disabling antivirus. remember we only embed stream for external sites and we never ask you you to pay.
No comments:
Post a Comment