World Cup-bound Algeria looked toothless in attack and shaky in defense as they suffered a tame 3-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup warm-up on Friday.
Veteran Robbie Keane scored a brace and Paul Green got the other against the Algerians, who are drawn in Group A of the finals in South Africa alongside England, Slovenia and the US.
Ireland, controversially denied a spot in the World Cup finals after their fate was sealed thanks to an unseen Thierry Henry handball in a playoff against France, dominated proceedings and fully deserved the win.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We’ve done fantastically this week — we’ve beaten two teams going to the World Cup,” Ireland’s Liam Lawrence said, referring to the team’s 2-1 victory over Paraguay on Tuesday.
“We’ve put the past behind us and are looking forward to [the Euro 2012 qualifiers in] September,” said the Stoke midfielder, who nonetheless said he would not be watching any of France’s games in South Africa.
“Algeria are a good footballing side and played well in patches, but I would expect England to beat them, but you never know in the World Cup, people raise their game,” he said.
After an uneventful first half-hour, Green got the scoreboard ticking with his first goal for Ireland in just his second appearance.
The Derby County player bravely went for a Lawrence free-kick that bounced between the striker and goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi, a diving header seeing the ball into the back of the net.
Algeria could afford to be upset that the assistant referee failed to spot three Irish players in offside positions, but the north Africans could not complain about not getting on the score sheet, having failed to get even a single shot on target in the opening period.
They came closest when Abdelkader Ghezzal made a threatening run into the Irish box, but Sean St Ledger produced a perfect sliding tackle to deny the Sienna striker.
Things got worse for Algeria when Celtic’s much-traveled Keane, the Ireland captain, scored Ireland’s second six minutes into the second half.
A neat Damien Duff cross was poorly cleared by Chaouchi and Keane was on hand to swivel and dink the ball over the stranded goalkeeper’s despairing dive and into the net.
Chaouchi was on hand shortly after to make a smart one-handed save from Keane, who minutes later saw a scrambled effort come back off the post as Algeria struggled badly to contain Ireland’s long-ball tactics.
Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews went close with a free-kick with nine minutes to play, as both sides made a host of changes that disrupted the natural rhythm of the game.
After Adlene Guedioura saw a strong header come back off the post, the Irish broke and it was that man Keane brought down in the Algerian box under a clumsy challenge from Djamel Mesbah.
The former Leeds United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur striker stepped up and converted the penalty to stretch his Irish goal scoring record to 43 in 99 games and compound Algeria coach’s Rabah Saadane planning ahead of what will undoubtedly be a most testing trip to South Africa.
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