Algeria — 2026 World Cup Squad

Start with the left flank, because that is where Algeria's puzzle gets interesting. Vladimir Petkovic has two of the world's better left-backs in Rayan Ait-Nouri, fresh from a title chase at Manchester City, and Dortmund's combative Ramy Bensebaini. You cannot field both in the same slot, so one shifts inside or surges forward as a runaway wing-back. It is the kind of selection headache other coaches would happily swap their squad for.

Ahead of them, the menace is obvious. Riyad Mahrez carries his paycheck in Saudi Arabia now, with Al-Ahli, but the left foot has not lost its appetite for bending a game out of shape. Amine Gouiri gives Marseille's centre-forward a focal point who drops and links, while Houssem Aouar, exiled to Al-Ittihad, still glides into the half-spaces to feed him. The pattern is plain: keep the ball, flood the channels, let Mahrez conduct.

Behind the headliners sits the bet on youth. Bayer Leverkusen's Ibrahim Maza represents the next wave, the player meant to keep this engine running long after Mahrez bows out. Group J has its traps, but for a team built to bury old failures, the knockouts are the floor, not the ceiling.