With four rounds remaining in the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, Algeria leads Group G with 15 points, ahead by 3 points over Mozambique, and 6 points over Botswana and Uganda. Guinea ranks fifth with 7 points, while Somalia is last with one point.

Predictions favor Algeria as they host Botswana tomorrow, Thursday, at the “Hussein Ait Ahmed” stadium in Tizi Ouzou province.

Algeria will not be satisfied with just beating Botswana, whom they defeated 3-1 in the first leg thanks to Amoura’s brace and a goal by Gouiri; they will also seek revenge against Guinea in a match scheduled in Guinea next Monday.

Guinea is the only team to have defeated Algeria in an official match during the tenure of head coach Vladimir Petković, which happened at the “Nelson Mandela” stadium in the Algerian capital in June 2024, during the third round of World Cup qualifiers.

If the teammates of veteran captain Riyad Mahrez succeed in overcoming Botswana and Guinea in the seventh and eighth rounds of the African qualifiers, regardless of other results, they will only need four points in the remaining two rounds to fulfill the dream of millions of fans still shocked by the failure to qualify for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Therefore, Algeria needs to secure 10 points out of a possible 12 to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, regardless of the results of other teams in their group.

It is worth noting that Algeria has participated in the World Cup finals four times, in 1982, 1986, 2010, and 2014.