Belgium is the widely acknowledged dark horses in World Cup 2014. In fact, several bookmarkers ranked them higher than even Italy and the Netherlands in their list of favourites. Now the team has to live up to the pre-tournament hype, when they take on Algeria in their first match. Algeria charted a different pre-tournament course than Belgium. In fact, very few outside the country even know that they are participating in the world cup.

Preview

Belgium’s recent form reveals that they fully deserve the tag of favourites. They were unbeaten in the qualification stage. They have some of the best young prospects in the European leagues in their side. They have not done well in any senior international tournaments so far. The world cup will be a great stage to begin a golden era in Belgian football.

Algeria came as the last entrant from Africa after winning a play-off match against Burkina Faso. They have not scored a goal in the world cup since the 1986 edition in Mexico. To be fair with them, this is only their second world cup appearance in the last 28 years. Considering the generous goal-scoring so far in this year’s event, they must be able to break the barren spell.

Against the fluid attacking style of Belgium, Algeria could struggle.

Players

Belgium has a host of players who can walk into any team in the world. Among them, only Romelu Lukaku has an injury scare. But he is expected to play. The rest, Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini, Vincent Kompany and Thibaut Courtois, all will start. One of Kevin Mirallas and Adnan Januzaj will feature in the right wing.

Algeria has no injury concerns. They will rely on their experienced attackers Islam Slimani and Sofiane Feghouli to spring a surprise at the expense of Belgium.

Belgium-Algeria Prediction

Surprises can wait. This is likely to be a walk in the park for Belgium. Algeria needs something like divine intervention to pull off a win against this Belgium side.

Belgium 1.45 @ Bet365

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