{"id":96222,"date":"2026-07-02T19:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/96222\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:14:10","slug":"petkovic-ready-to-lead-algeria-against-former-side-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/96222\/","title":{"rendered":"Petkovic ready to lead Algeria against former side Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fennecs are swimming in uncharted territory having only reached the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup on one previous occasion, valiantly falling to a heartbreaking defeat to eventual winners Germany in 2014.<\/p>\n

Not qualifying for the previous two iterations was a huge failure for an Algerian side led by the technical brilliance of Riyad Mahrez who they couldn\u2019t utilise in his prime years. However, the ex-Manchester City winger is spearheading their North America adventure<\/a> and will be looking to bow out on the international stage on a high.<\/p>\n

An opening defeat to Argentina was rectified thanks to a victory over Jordan and a thrilling 3-3 draw with Austria<\/a> which ranked them as one of the best third-place nations. Sasa Kalajdzic\u2019s late header handed Algeria a seemingly easier round of 32 tie against Switzerland<\/a> rather than a daunting clash with one of the favourites Spain.<\/p>\n

The game carries a compelling narrative with Vladimir Petkovic facing a nation in which he managed for seven years ending in 2021, securing qualification for every edition of the World Cup and Euros in that time which famously saw them reach the quarter-finals of the latter five years ago.<\/p>\n

Renewing acquaintances<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old is looking forward to facing his previous employers and feels the pressure is firmly in the Swiss camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is a great advantage to know each other,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great pleasure to meet them again and I certainly expect a tough match and to win it, we have to give 120% against a good Switzerland side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing to say is that Petkovic isn\u2019t playing against Switzerland and there are two teams that certainly play good football, two teams that want to get results.<\/p>\n

\"CelebratingCelebrating a historic victory over France in the round of 16 in the 2020 Euros (Photo by Alex Caparros – UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitzerland must win because they\u2019ve officially announced that they want to reach at least the quarter-finals and we have already achieved two great goals: going to a World Cup and getting through the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re entering the match with pleasure but also with a great desire to win and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petkovic also adds how his side must tighten up at the back against a threatening Swiss frontline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have conceded too many goals,\u201d the ex-Lazio and Bordeaux boss outlined.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is very positive is that we have scored five and we have grown from game to game and against Switzerland you have to be at your best for 90 minutes, maybe even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely need to improve our communication and not just our defence, all 11 of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced we showed the first positive signs of that against Austria and I\u2019m sure we will be at our best tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treating it like any other game<\/p>\n

Their opponents in the early hours of Friday morning impressed following a lethargic draw to Qatar in their opener which was followed by impressive victories over Bosnia & Herzegovina and co-hosts Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Petkovic acknowledges the quality in the Switzerland ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my players, it is a normal game,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\"MahrezMahrez has led Algeria’s charge to the knockout stages (Photo by Michael Steele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think first of all the Swiss team is dangerous and Granit Xhaka is a great man and player who has shown his qualities everywhere he has been.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely have to be careful because they have a lot of quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking to make the nation proud<\/p>\n

National pride has reached fever pitch in Algeria<\/a> with the growing belief that this squad can achieve something special together.<\/p>\n

Petkovic, who was appointed in February 2024 with the primary aim of qualifying for this World Cup, is eager to channel that remarkable support to spur his team on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received back all of these beautiful photos and videos in the country where we saw so many celebrations,\u201d he proudly stated.<\/p>\n

\"ReadyReady to deliver for Algeria on the biggest stage (Photo by Maja Hitij – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw euphoria throughout the country and not just in the country but having 30,000 people in the stadium here is not something every team can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they give us positive energy because we need it to win this match and we will give everything for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fennecs are swimming in uncharted territory having only reached the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[24581,1342,563,20916,47513,17,47514,13703],"class_list":["post-96222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-algeria","tag-austria","tag-canada","tag-granit-xhaka","tag-riyad-mahrez","tag-switzerland","tag-vladimir-petkovic","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116851983507991163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}