World Cup: Ireland vs. Algeria: U.S. opponent is easily beaten in Dublin

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

There must have been an American scout in the stadium in Dublin and, if so, the report sent home to U.S. Coach Bob Bradley can only have been encouraging.

Ireland, denied a place in the World Cup by Thierry Henry’s ‘hand of Gaul’ goal, easily defeated Algeria, 3-0, on Friday in a game that saw Algeria Coach Rabah Saadane scrambling to protect his regular starters from injury.

Saadane, who also coached the Desert Foxes in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, started three of the seven players from his preliminary World Cup roster who had never represented their country before. The lack of cohesion was evident.

Algeria was missing defenders Majid Bougherra and Antar Yahia to injury and the Irish had little trouble penetrating the team’s makeshift back line. Robbie Keane scored twice for Ireland.

‘I did have injured players, particularly in defense, and it was clear I could not take any risks for any further injuries,’ Saadane said. ‘It was a good test for us. We did learn a lot from it, but still have some basics to learn.’

Algeria is the Americans’ third opponent in the first round of the June 11-July 11 tournament and a victory in that June 23 match in Pretoria could be vital if the U.S. is to advance to the knockout stage. Also in the group are England and Slovenia.

The Ireland match was intended to help Algeria prepare for its game against England in Cape Town on June 18.

--Grahame L. Jones