Write off Algeria at your peril. No longer World Cup whipping boys, the Desert Foxes are boosted by a stronger professional league, improving standards at grassroots level and an influx of players with Algerian parents or ancestry.
Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri have all previously slipped through Algeria's net. The Greens will be hoping they have turned off that particular tap that has been flowing in the direction of France, and with it enhanced their own standing in world football.
World Cup stars of yesteryear Diego Maradona and Rivaldo, as well as Javier Zanetti, have been queuing up to sing the virtues of the Greens' class of 2014 - the only Arab nation present in Brazil. Maradona predicts Algeria "will cause a surprise", while Rivaldo says "the possibilities of reaching the second round are abundant".
