Bensebaini heads in, Dortmund man keeps Algeria's World Cup hopes alive | OneFootball

It was hard work for the Algerian team. In their second group match at the FIFA World Cup, the Desert Foxes faced Jordan in the early hours of Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. CEST. After 90 fiercely contested minutes, the scoreboard at the stadium in Santa Clara, California showed a 2-1 victory for the North Africans.

As in the opening match against Argentina (0-3), Ramy Bensebaini (31) was in the starting lineup. The Dortmund defender once again took up a position in central defense. Against the highly committed World Cup newcomers, the BVB pro, who was making his 87th international appearance, had plenty to do. Jordan’s forwards repeatedly kept Algeria’s defense busy.

As the match went on, Bensebaini had to intervene robustly several times and stop his opponents with sliding tackles. But even he was unable to prevent Jordan from taking the lead after 36 minutes through Nizar Al-Rashdan (27). With the underdogs leading 1-0, both teams then went into the halftime break.

Bensebaini flicks on for the winner

After the break, Algeria, who also fielded two more Bundesliga players in Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza (20) and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Fares Chaibi (23), increased the pressure. After Nadhir Benbouali (26) equalized in the 69th minute, Bensebaini got his head to the ball in the build-up to the 2-1 winner scored by Amine Gouiri (26) after 82 minutes. The man wearing jersey number 21 flicked on a corner into the six-yard box. Gouiri was standing there, just barely onside, so the goal counted.

Photo: Getty Images

In Group J, the Desert Foxes are in third place with three points, behind Argentina (6) and Austria (3). However, Algeria have an inferior goal difference to Ralf Rangnick’s (67) team. Jordan, on the other hand, no longer have any chance of reaching the knockout round after two defeats.

On the final matchday of the group stage, Algeria will face Austria on June 28 (4 a.m. CEST). With a win, Bensebaini & Co. would definitely reach the round of 32.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.