World Cup
2026-06-22 - Jordan vs Algeria
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: World Cup Group J Match Day 2
Monday 22nd June 2026 - Kick Off 8pm (PST)
British Time 4am
Jordan
The Jordan national team have a couple of different nicknames, but one of those is 'The Brave Gentlemen' and they are going to have to show some of that to find a way out of this Group at the 2026 World Cup Finals. A 3-1 defeat to Austria makes things very difficult with Jordan concluding the Group Stage against the defending World Champions, and so they will have to be 'brave' to try and earn the three points that will give them a chance to progress.
Encouragement can be taken from the fact Jordan matched Austria in the first game in the United States and they are playing in San Francisco again and so will have familiarity with the conditions. Some of the inexperience of the players perhaps showed when getting into the final third, but Jordan racked up some decent efforts and they will certainly not be lacking for confidence even after the opening defeat.
Jordan based their Qualification for the World Cup on strong defensive resiliency, but this is a nation that is not that accustomed to facing some of the stronger teams in international football. Three of the ten goals conceded in the last Qualifying Group came at the hands of runaway Group Winners South Korea, while Jordan's 3-1 defeat to Austria means they have conceded at least twice in each of the last 6 games played.
The showing in the first game will likely mean an unchanged team for this important fixture against Algeria.
Predicted Line Up: Abulaila, Nasib, Al-Arab, Al-Nadi, Al-Rashdan, Al-Rawabdeh, Haddad, Taha, Fakhoury, Al-Olwan and Al-Tamari (3-4-3)
Algeria
There have been a number of teams who have opened up the World Cup tournament with a lot of room for improvement and Algeria are going to feel like one of those nations. Losing to defending World Champions Argentina is not the issue, but Algeria barely laid a glove on the opponent and the lack of bite in the final third will have to change if the team are going to make it out of this Group Stage.
Fans of a certain generation will be thinking about 'revenge' when facing Austria in the final game of the Group, but manager Vladimir Petkovic will be reminding his players that the fixture would lose considerable importance in 2026 if they are to be beaten again. Any positive result would keep Algeria alive, but they will need to be much better than the opening fixture and three points is the target.
Algeria failed to produce a single shot on target against Argentina and they lacked ideas in the final third, which was a concern for this team when travelling to the United States. However, fans will not have lost faith in the manager and the players when remembering Algeria beat Netherlands and Bolivia in friendly matches earlier this month.
The experienced manager will have surprised everyone by leaving Riyad Mahrez on the bench for the game against Argentina, but he is unlikely to do that again. A more familiar tactical set up is expected after Vladimir Petkovic changed things up to counter Argentina.
Predicted Line Up: Zidane, Belghali, Ait-Nouri, Mende, Bensebaini, Boudaoui, Bentaleb, Maza, Mahrez, Chaibi and Amoura (4-2-3-1)
Head to Head
These nations last met in an international friendly back in May 2004 which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Prediction
A minimum of three points are expected for those teams chasing one of the best third place finishes in the Group Stage of the 2026 World Cup Finals and that means both Jordan and Algeria have work to do.
Even three points may not be enough without having at least a neutral goal difference and both of these teams conceded three goals in opening losses to Austria and Argentina respectively.
The pressure is on and it would be a real surprise if either manager thinks about the draw- Vladimir Petkovic perhaps overthought his tactics for Algeria's game against Argentina, but he is likely going to bring in the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Mohammed Amoura into the attacking third and that should be a big help for his team.
Mistakes from Luca Zidane, Zinedine's son, helped Argentina out in the first game, but Algeria are usually much more resilient at the back. They will feel they can do better when facing this Jordan attack, which is inexperienced, while those attacking players mentioned will certainly feel confident in creating chances against a Jordan defence that has conceded at least twice in 6 straight fixtures.
Jordan played well against Austria and deserve some respect, but they were a little vulnerable from set pieces and this Algeria team should have a much more potent look about them when they do get forward.
As poor as they were against Argentina, manager Vladimir Petkovic is well versed with tournament football and he should help Algeria produce much better with the talented forwards they have.
Nothing will come easy with the pressure now beginning to ramp up after the opening fixtures have been completed, but Algeria showed enough earlier this month to be able to put the performance/result against Argentina into some context.
Algeria scored 24 goals in the final World Cup Qualifying Group in ten matches and they certainly have the kind of quality in the final third to believe they can bounce back and earn three important points.
The Pick :
Jordan 1-2 Algeria
