Overview
Switzerland will face Algeria in Vancouver in the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup. The winning team will win a ticket to the round of 16 against Colombia or Ghana.
While Algeria has never passed the knockout stage at the World Cup, Switzerland has also been waiting for this since 1938. The two teams entered the match with great determination after going through different journeys in the group stage.
Switzerland started slowly with a 1-1 draw against Qatar, but then successively defeated Bosnia & Herzegovina and Canada to win the top spot in Group B, 3 points ahead of the team behind.
Rubin Vargas and Johan Manzambi both scored in the victory against Canada. Previously, this duo also made a difference when coming on as substitutes in the match against Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Manzambi is making a strong impression in his first World Cup appearance with 3 goals after only three shots on target. In the 21st century, only Thomas Muller (5 goals at the 2010 World Cup) and Kylian Mbappe (4 goals at the 2018 World Cup) scored more goals than Manzambi at a World Cup when both were under 21 years old.
Besides Manzambi's youth, Switzerland still places its faith in captain Granit Xhaka. This midfielder made the most passes through the defense in the group stage (53) and is only behind Rodrigo Bentancur in the number of times he regained ball control (24 compared to 29).
The match against Algeria will mark Xhaka's 150th time wearing the national team jersey. He aims to help Switzerland win three consecutive victories in a World Cup for the first time in history.
However, history is not on the side of the European team. In the last 9 knockout matches in major tournaments, Switzerland had to decide five times in a penalty shootout and was eliminated in 4 matches. During the official playing time, they only won one of the last 12 knockout matches (5 draws, 6 losses).
On the other side, Algeria qualified for the next round as one of the third-placed teams with the best results. In the last match of Group J, they drew 3-3 with Austria in a dramatic match.
Both teams only needed one point to advance, but Riyad Mahrez still scored the opening goal after a combination that lasted for 110 consecutive passes in more than 5 minutes without letting the Austrian player touch the ball.
However, Austria rallied strongly in injury time to equalize 3-3, a result enough to help both teams qualify for the next round and eliminate Iran from the tournament.
Algeria closed the group stage in third place after a 0-3 defeat to Argentina, a 2-1 victory over Jordan and a draw with Austria.
The North African team is also trying to end their sad streak against European opponents. Since the shocking victory over West Germany in 1982, Algeria has not won any more matches against European representatives at the World Cup, with four draws and five defeats.
Head-to-head record
This will be the first time Switzerland and Algeria have faced each other in an official match.
Previously, the two teams had only met twice in friendly matches, and Switzerland was the winning team. The European representative defeated Algeria 2-1 in 1983, before continuing to overcome the opponent with a score of 2-0 in the rematch 3 years later.
Score prediction: Switzerland 1-0 Algeria
The match between Switzerland - Algeria takes place at 10:00 AM on July 3rd (Vietnam time).
