Gouiri says fightback versus Jordan can be World Cup turning point for Algeria

Algeria match-winner Amine Gouiri hopes their comeback win over Jordan serves as a turning point for their World Cup campaign, as they prepare for a showdown with Austria.

Algeria were on the ropes at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Monday, after going 1-0 down to Nizar Al Rashdan’s drilled effort late in the first half.

However, Algeria ruthlessly exploited some poor set-piece defending from the tournament debutants as Nadhir Benbouali equalised from a Riyad Mahrez corner, before another dead ball led to Gouiri bundling home eight minutes from time.

It was Algeria’s first-ever World Cup victory after conceding first, having failed to win any of their previous 10 such matches (D3 L7), while Gouiri’s winner was Algeria’s latest in regulation time at any edition of the tournament.

Things are now delicately poised in Group J, with Argentina confirmed in top spot and Jordan guaranteed to finish bottom. Algeria and Austria are level on three points apiece, ahead of their meeting in Kansas City on Saturday.

And that fixture will be a grudge match, after Algeria were eliminated from the 1982 World Cup following the infamous ‘Disgrace of Gijon’, where West Germany beat Austria 1-0 in a game that saw neither team attack in the second half, with both of those teams progressing.  

And Gouiri knows how important it was for Algeria to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina side on matchday one.

“We had the mental strength to come back, and I think we’re continuing to improve. This victory, earned with character and determination, will ‌do us ⁠the world of good,” Gouiri said.

“It could be a turning point. A win is always good, especially for confidence given the way the match unfolded. We’re very happy, but we know nothing is done yet. We’ve taken an important step.”

Fellow forward Ibrahim Maza added: “It was a very hard game. They were leading 1-0 but we had the upper hand the whole game. That was my feeling. 

“At half-time we spoke about how we had to do even more, but we had to be patient still as we had the ball nearly the whole time. Then we scored two nice goals and won the game. 

“We are very happy. I think these three points will help us in the next game, they will motivate us a lot. We have confidence now to go to the next game.”

Jordan are now eliminated from the tournament despite becoming the first team to score in each of their first two World Cup matches since Ivory Coast did so in 2006 (first three), but head coach Jamal Sellami remains proud of his players. 

“We didn’t see a big gap when it comes to skills, except for the corner kicks and set-pieces,” Sellami said. 

“I was proud of the performance of my players. Yes, the results are sad. We were hoping for better results, but I’m happy with my players.”