Algeria World Cup 2014 Profile: Tottenham Prodigy Offers Hope

Manager: Vahid Halilhodzic

World Ranking: 25

World Cup Best: Group stages in 1982, 1986, and 2010

How they qualified: Won five of their six group matches to easily finish top before beating Burkina Faso in the final play-off round.

Fixtures: Group H - Belgium (17 June), Korea Republic (22 June), Russia (26 June)

Squad -

Goalkeepers: Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (USM Alger), Rais Mbolhi (CSKA Sofia), Cedric Si Mohamed (CS Constantine)

Defenders: Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Aissa Mandi (Reims), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwiya), Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli), Rafik Halliche (Academica), Essaid Belkalem (Watford), Liassine Cadamuro (Real Mallorca), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno), Mehdi Mostefa (Ajaccio)

Midfielders: Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Saphir Taider (Inter Milan), Medhi Lacen (Getafe), Abdelmoumen Djabou (Club Africain), Yacine Brahimi (Granada), Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham), Hassan Yebda (Udinese), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

Forwards: Islam Slimani (Sporting Lisbon), Hilal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb), Nabil Ghilas (Porto).

Expectations: After leaving the 2010 World Cup without a victory and even failing to score a goal (they secured just one point after a 0-0 draw against England) Algeria's targets start with winning a group game rather than qualifying for the next round.

However, considering the pressure is all on Russia and Belgium and that Halilhodzic's side have a number of talented players playing across the top flights in Europe they will consider themselves within a chance of reaching the last 16. Should they do it, it would be a remarkable achievement having never qualified from the group stages of the competition – despite winning two of their three group games in 1982.

Star man: Nabil Bentaleb – The Tottenham starlet won his first cap for Algeria in March after he was promoted to Spurs' first team by Tim Sherwood and has since becoming a key player for Halilhodzic.

Even though the talented duo Sofiane Feghouli and Yacine Brahimi will be the players in charge of making the difference up front, the Tottenham youngster's consistency in midfield may be crucial to nullifying the threat of a bright Belgium generation leaded by Eden Hazard – and breaking down a solid Russia side forged by Fabio Capello.

Prediction: Group stage – With Belgium expected to win the group, Algeria will have to fight for second place with Russia and the Korea Republic. Nevertheless, Capello's side are considered the favourites to partner Belgium in the last 16.