Belgium's Alderweireld and Russia's Kokorin fight for the ball during their 2014 World Cup Group H soccer match at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro
Belgium's Toby Alderweireld (L) and Russia's Alexander Kokorin fight for the ball during their 2014 World Cup Group H soccer match at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro June 22, 2014. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Final Score

Algeria 1 Russia 1

Overview

The forty eighth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Algeria and Russia. The Group H match should be quite an interesting contest between the two as this will be the last chance for both the teams to try for a berth in the "group of 16."

Teams

Algeria: Algeria did not start of the tournament well. It suffered a loss against Belgium. However, there were several things that it did right during the match. Belgium, which had come to the tournament as one of the strongest teams, was the first to concede a goal. Algeria went ahead of the European team after Sofiane Feghouli scored a goal at the 25th minute. However, it failed to maintain the advantage as it conceded 2 goals in the second half and lost the match. It did not make similar mistake against Korea Republic. It scored 3 goals in the first half itself and eventually won it 4-2. Russia and Korea Republic can still be an obstacle on its way to the next round. Even a draw against Russia may be enough. However, if Korea Republic manages to win against Belgium with a big goal difference (unlikely but possible), Algeria will be eliminated. That is why it must win against Russia to confirm its berth in the "group of 16."

Russia: Russia, on the other hand, has to win this match too. Unlike Algeria, a mere draw won't be enough for Russia to proceed to the next round. Russia only has 1 point at the moment. It has to collect 3 more with a win here and hope Korea Republic does not win against with a big margin. Russia failed to secure a win against the Asian team. The result of the match (1-1) will haunt Russia if it fails to qualify for the next round despite starting the tournament as one of the favourites to get past the group stages. It lost against Belgium as well. Divock Origi's goal at the 88th minute was enough for Belgium to win the match. Russia has scored only 1 goal in 2 matches. It must attack more and score as that is the only way it can stay in the tournament.

Head to Head

These two teams played only once against each other before. Both scored 2 goals each as the match ended in a draw.

Key Players

Algeria: Sofiane Feghouli and Abdelmoumene Djabou

Russia: Andrey Eshchenko and Aleksandr Kokorin

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 5 pm (local time) on June 26, which means it is 6 am on June 27 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba.

Prediction

Russia will be able to defend well. It will score at the same time and win the match 2-1.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au