Algeria vs Somalia Prediction: The visitors can only pray not to concede more than five

Algeria will face off against Somalia at the Stade de Nelson Mandela Stadium on Thursday. The qualifying phase for the World Cup is a mini-championship of ten matches that will be spread over a two-year period, and Algeria will test different tactics to keep in shape for their AFCON journey in Ivory Coast.

Algeria

FIFA Ranking: 33th

Last five matches: WDDWD

The Desert Foxes were one of the four sides not to have tasted defeat in the AFCON qualifying round. They won the group after picking up sixteen points from a possible eighteen.

Algeria had a smooth sail in the tournament, winning five while sharing the spoils once. Algeria head here following their (1-1) stalemate against Egypt in a friendly match.

Before then, the Desert Foxes ran riot against Cape Verde just before they shut out the Lion of Teranga attackers of Mane, Jackson and Sarr, scoring once to obtain the maximum points.

They have been in excellent form recently, winning seven of their last thirteen games. Led by star players like Riyad Mahrez, Houssem Apiar and Ismael Bennacer, to mention a few, Algeria will be looking to dominate the game and secure a comfortable victory.

Somalia

FIFA Ranking: 196th

Last five games: LWLLL

The Ocean Stars are yet to feature in any competitive tournament before and have played twice this year. Somalia head here with a (0-2) against Sierra Leone in a friendly game just before their (3-0) against Niger.

Somalia are one of the lowest-ranked teams in this tournament, and their prayer here is not to concede much.

Expert Betting Tips

Algeria are one of the best and the most in-form African side in recent years. Coach Djamel Belmadi is already getting into 2026 World Cup and 2023 Africa Cup mode. It's almost becoming an obsession for him to be at the 2026 World Cup while not neglecting the AFCON 2023, where he plans to have a decent edition in Côte d'Ivoire.

Algeria have been in a great run in recent games, and we think they’ll run riot here; bet on HT total over 1.5 goals for 1.65.

We expect this game this game to end in over 4.5 goals for 2.05.

Algeria will get a correct score of (5-0) for 6.50.

Good luck!