Algeria

The Story

Algeria arrives in 2026 ending a 12-year absence — the longest wait between World Cups in the modern Fennecs era. They're the fourth Arab-speaking nation in the field (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria — a North African quartet nobody saw coming a decade ago) and they arrive with a Swiss manager, Vladimir Petković, the former Lazio boss and Switzerland national team coach who took the job in 2024 and rebuilt the squad around a single idea: control the midfield and let Mahrez finish.

The qualifying run was not a miracle. Algeria topped a group that included Mozambique and Uganda, won nine of ten matches, and conceded six goals across the entire campaign. What they haven't done is play a top-tier nation since 2022. Group J gives them three in a row: Argentina (the reigning champions), Austria (organized, physical, dangerous), and Jordan (a debutant they absolutely have to beat).

For anyone new to Algerian football, know this: the 2014 team took Germany to extra time in the Round of 16 and outran them for most of 120 minutes. This squad is deeper, faster, and more technical than that one. Whether they have the composure to beat Argentina is the question the entire country is asking. The honest answer is probably not. But the honest answer in 2014 was also probably not. Algeria has a habit of ignoring the honest answer.

3 Players to Know

Riyad Mahrez

The captain, 35 years old, the 2016 Premier League champion with Leicester and the man who still takes every free kick. He's at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia now — just scored a 117th-minute free kick to send them into the Asian Champions League quarters — and his contract runs through 2027. He was top assist-provider in African qualifying. If Algeria beat Jordan, steal a point off Austria, and upset Argentina on set pieces, it'll be because Mahrez put the ball exactly where the goalkeeper couldn't reach.

Ismaël Bennacer

The deep-lying midfielder who spent four years as AC Milan's metronome before a long-term leg injury cost him most of 2024-25. He's on loan at Dinamo Zagreb this season getting his minutes back, and manager Vladimir Petković is desperate to have him fit for June — he's the one Algerian midfielder who can control tempo against Argentina's press. If Bennacer plays 90 minutes, Algeria are dangerous. If he doesn't, they're a counter-attacking side asking Mahrez to create magic.

Amine Gouiri

The 25-year-old striker who grew up in Bourgoin-Jallieu, came through Lyon's academy, and chose Algeria over France in 2022. He moved from Rennes to Marseille in January 2025 and has been the Ligue 1 form striker of the spring — 14 goals, the kind of movement in the box that Algeria has lacked for a decade. If this team is going to score against Argentina, it's going to be Gouiri on the end of a Mahrez cross.

The Food

Signature Dish

Couscous royale is the Friday ritual — semolina steamed three times until it's impossibly light, served with a stew of lamb, chicken, merguez sausage, and seven vegetables (carrots, turnips, zucchini, chickpeas, the list is flexible) in a saffron-and-harissa broth. Start the meal with chorba frik — a lamb and cracked-wheat soup that's the national hug during Ramadan. Finish with m'hanncha, a coiled almond-paste pastry dusted with powdered sugar, and mint tea poured from three feet up so it foams.

Where to Eat in DFW

Algerian-specific is rare in DFW — the closest reliable spot is Baboush on McKinney Avenue in Uptown Dallas, a Moroccan-Mediterranean kitchen where the tagine and the couscous are close cousins to what you'd get in Algiers. Ask for the merguez, order the mint tea, and request they put the match on — the Uptown staff are game. Kasbah Grill in Irving has closed, so Baboush is the play.

Fan Culture

Algerian support is loud, green-and-white, and Mediterranean in the best sense of the word — they sing, they whistle, they absolutely bring flares they shouldn't have gotten through security. The "One-Two-Three, Viva l'Algérie!" chant will start in the concourse and not stop until the team bus pulls away. Expect drums, expect the darbuka, expect the full diaspora from Paris and Marseille in the stands — Algerian football belongs to France almost as much as it belongs to Algiers. Sit near them and you'll be offered dates, you'll be handed a flag, and you'll sing things in French and Arabic you don't fully understand. The vibe is raucous, welcoming, and emotionally unregulated in exactly the way a good match demands.