World Cup 2026: Algeria and Petkovic already on red alert after Argentina fiasco

Humiliated 3-0 by Argentina and Lionel Messi on Tuesday night in their long-awaited World Cup return, Algeria delivered a performance that was even more concerning than the scoreline suggested. Head coach Vladimir Petkovic's bold decision to leave captain Riyad Mahrez on the bench from kick-off spectacularly backfired.

Algerian supporters who made the effort to stay up late, or rise extremely early, to watch the contest will be nursing a hangover on Wednesday morning.

Beyond the scale of the defeat, marked by Messi's hat-trick, it is the abject nature of the display that causes alarm at the end of the Fennecs' first World Cup match in 12 years.

The primary target of criticism is, inevitably, Petkovic. Extended until 2028 shortly before the tournament, the Swiss-Bosnian coach made eye-catching selection calls by dropping captain Mahrez to the bench in favour of youth and the in-form Anis Hadj Moussa, while Fares Chaibi was preferred to Mohamed Amoura on the opposite flank.

The painful statistic: Zero shots on target for Algeria against Argentina

Those decisions failed to pay off in any way. The connection between Ibrahim Maza and Hadj Moussa — which had worked so promisingly at the Africa Cup of Nations — was virtually non-existent.

Algeria did not manage a single shot on target throughout the entire 90 minutes. The pressing was virtually absent in the first half, and centre-forward Amine Gouiri spent the match dropping deep simply to defend and touch the ball.

Beyond Chaibi's disallowed goal early in the match, a cross-shot from the Eintracht Frankfurt player at a tight angle, and an off-target header during Algeria's brief surge before half-time, there was almost nothing to report.

While his side had been sinking for more than half an hour, Petkovic waited until the hour mark — at 2-0 down — to make his first changes, introducing Mahrez, Amoura and Houssem Aouar simultaneously, which provoked a slight improvement. Facing pressure from the media and supporters — neither renowned for their patience — the Algerian manager can expect the coming days to be extremely tense.

Bentaleb and Luca Zidane in the thick of every mistake, Mandi promises a response

Petkovic is far from the only guilty party, however. Impressive since his arrival before the Africa Cup of Nations, goalkeeper Luca Zidane, again wearing a protective headguard, undermined his own team under the gaze of his father Zinedine, who was watching from the stands in Kansas City.

A weak hand on Messi's opening strike, which did not appear entirely unstoppable, allowed the ball to creep past him. Then an insufficiently strong parry of Mac Allister's long-range effort presented the ball on a plate for Messi's second. On that occasion, Aissa Mandi also lacked aggression, allowing himself to be beaten to the ball by a 38-year-old Messi.

Nabil Bentaleb, who gave the shooter far too much space on the edge of the box on three separate occasions, also bears significant responsibility — particularly given his experience and the well-known shooting quality of the opposition.

The problems are numerous and urgent adjustments are required before the decisive fixtures on 23 June against Jordan and 28 June against Austria. Losing to Argentina is no surprise and was probably pencilled in on the roadmap from the start — but not in this manner and while offering so little.

"We are not a team that will be crushed by a scoreline like this. We are a team with character and I believe we will bounce back," Mandi told beIN Sports after the match. Now they must prove it.