South Africa will have a true test of their abilities when they tackle North African heavyweights Algeria in an International Friendly at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on the evening of Tuesday 26 March 2024.
Kick-off is at 11pm CAT.
South Africa come into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw with Andorra in Annaba last Thursday. It was a disappointing result for Bafana Bafana on the back of their highly-promising showing at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier in the year, but the experimental nature of the line-up selected by coach Hugo Broos (four debutants in the starting XI, with only two players who had double figures in caps) explained the underwhelming performance.
“The goal for us was always to give those [uncapped] players a chance to have that experience and I’m satisfied," said Broos.
“I think we’ve shown again what is the problem with South African football, we don’t have a scorer, the guy who gets one chance and scores the goal. If you check, we had six or seven chances, and we only scored once.
“So in this game, you will always win if you are more aggressive and if you have more quality in front of the goal. But again, this is the only thing I’m not satisfied with, but the rest I’m satisfied a lot.”
For this clash, the likes of Ronwen Williams, Siyanda Xulu, Teboho Mokoena, Mihlali Mayambela and Themba Zwane are expected to return to the line-up, making for a far stronger and more experienced unit.
And they will need that class against an Algerian side which boasts the likes of Aissa Mandi, Nabil Bentaleb, Yacine Brahimi, Said Benrahma and Baghdad Bounedjah. However, the Fennec Foxes will be without Ismael Bennacer due to injury, while Ramy Bensebaini is a doubt, and star man Riyad Mahrez was left out of the squad at his own request.
The North Africans come into this game on the back of a come-from-behind 3-2 triumph over Bolivia last week, with goals from Amine Gouiri, Yassine Benzia and Mandi giving new coach Vladimir Petkovic a winning start to his reign.
In head-to-head stats, Algeria and South Africa have met in four matches dating back as far as January 1996. Each team has claimed one win, while two games have been drawn. Their most recent meeting was in the group stage of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, with Algeria claiming a 3-1 win in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea, thanks to an own goal from Thulani Hlatshwayo and strikes by Faouzi Ghoulam and Islam Slimani.