Pre-match information
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.
The European representative 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.
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).
Meanwhile, 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 of 110 consecutive passes in more than 5 minutes without letting Austrian players touch the ball. However, Austria strongly rallied in injury time to equalize 3-3, a result enough to help both teams win tickets to 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.
