France, June 7 -- Just as Algeria appear to establish consistency, they fall away. The North African side reached the World Cup for the first time in 1982 in Spain after the tournament expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

They qualified again for the 1986 tournament in Mexico but missed the next five editions before returning in 2010 and 2014. Historic upset

After failing to qualify for the tournaments in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, the Fennecs are back after winning an African qualifying group featuring Uganda, Mozambique, Guinea, Botswana and Somalia.

Algeria, ranked 28th in the world by Fifa, made headlines during their first World Cup appearance in 1982.

They won their opening match against reigning European champions West Germany,...