In the Group C, Algeria will have a strong challenge with England the favorite, the USA and Slovenia that kicked out Russia in the Europe Playoff games.

ALGERIA
Algeria made it to the South African World Cup! A huge boost for this entire nation that was one of the best of the continent with two appearances at the Final Tournament in the 80’s (1982 and 1986), and with an African Nations Cup title in 1990!  Today Algeria is back in the top 6 of the African ranking thanks to a very good organization and a group of players that have been outstanding with respect to solidarity en mental strength. The qualification in the play-off game against Egypt was almost unexpected. Antar Yahia (Bochum), the experienced Rafik Saïfi (Istres), the former Olympique de Marseille midfielder Karim Ziani (Wolfsburg), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth), and even Yazid Mansouri (Lorient) are amongst the player that qualified Algeria to this world class final competition.
The Final Stage of the African Nations Cup last January has shown that Algeria should only be afraid about itself! The disastrous start against Malawi (0-4) to the outstanding ¼ final against Ivory Coast (1-2) explains it all!

ENGLAND
England, with an outstanding qualifying campaign is definitely the favorite in this group. Like the Netherlands, Wayne Rooney and his pairs have an impressed in their 2008-09 campaign. With very talented and experienced players, England would like to make a great impression after missing the last Euro Cup in 2008. With world class players such as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, and also the youngster Gabriel Agbonlahor, England is coming to South African to make a point.
Our footballproafrica.com experts believe that this come back to a major competition since the Word Cup 2006, will definitely give a boost to these stars players in quest of recognition. We don’t see how England could collapse in the first round stage of this competition.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A very well organized team from the CONCACAF zone, the USA is regularly qualified to the final stage of the World Cups. But for footballproafrica.com specialists, team USA is unpredictable. During the Confederation Cup in 2009,  the USA have show the best, crushing Egypt, the African Champion 3-0 - defeating Spain, the European Champion 2-0, and only losing to Brazil 2-3. However, last November, during a European friendly game campaign, the USA lost against Denmark (1-3) and Slovakia (0-1) – And we cannot discard the heavy defeat against Mexico 0-5 in the CONCACAF Final 2009.
But the USA has proved that they can reach their full potential during important competition such as the Confederation. So wait and see …

SLOVENIA
Slovenia squad today has nothing to do with the team that qualified for the first time of the country history to a World Cup (2002). Slovenia history against African teams goes back to the 2002 World Cup where Slovenes lost 0-1 to South Africa! Today the team is young and inexperienced, but Slovenia is still very talented and can rise to the expectation when needed! In the play-offs games against Russia, this small country with only 2 million inhabitants managed to kick out Arshavin and his counterparts! But usually in World Cup History, the qualifying performances of the teams do not match the final stage outcomes. In football, what also matters in the final result of a game is the style of the teams, the physical and mental condition of the players after a long season.

Footballproafrica.com specialists believe that the USA will have the schedule against them in South Africa. They opening game against England will leave Slovenia and Algeria clashing for 3 points that might make the difference at the end of the first round games. We remember how the USA compromised their chances of qualification during the WC 2006, collapsing to the Czech Republic 3-0 in their opening game. The « fennecs » know what they have to do …

Footballproafrica.com quote for the qualification to the second round

England  80%
Algeria    40%
United States of America   40%
Slovenia  40%

List of Algerian players used during the 2009 fixtures

Lounès GAOUAOUI, ASO Chlef (L1, Algeria)
Fawzi CHAOUCHI, ES Sétif (L1, Algeria)
Mohamed OUSERIR, CR Belouizdad (L1, Algeria)

Madjid BOUGHERRA, Glasgow Rangers (L1, Scotland)
Nadir BELHADJ, Portsmouth FC (L1, England)
Anthar YAHIA, VFL Bochum (L1, Germany)
Rafik HALLICHE, Nacional Madeira (L1, Portugal)
Slimane RAHO, ES Setif (L1, Algeria)
Redha BABOUCHE, MC Alger (L1, Algeria)
Abdelkader LAIFAOUI, ES Setif (L1, Algeria)
Samir ZAOUI, ASO Chlef (L1, Algeria)

Yazid MANSOURI, FC Lorient (L1, France)
Yacine BEZZAZ, RC Strasbourg (L2, France)
Khaled LEMMOUCHIA, ES Setif (L1, Algeria)
Karim MATMOUR, Mönchengladbach (L1, Germany)
Karim ZIANI, FL Wolfsburg (L1, Germany)
Hameur BOUAZZA, Blackpool (L2, England)
Hassan YEBDA, Portsmouth FC (L1, England)
Djamel ABDOUN, FC Nantes (L2, France) 
Mourad MEGHNI, Lazio de Rome (L1, Italy)

Abdelkader GHEZZAL, AC Sienne (L1, Italy)
Rafik SAIFI, Istres (L2, France)
Kamel GHILAS, Hull City (L1, England)

Coach/ Manager: Rabah SAADANE (Algeria)