Rabat – Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic regretted his team’s exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a heavy 2-0 defeat to Switzerland.
Switzerland stunned Algeria in the 10th minute, and Dan Ndoye added a second for his team in the 46th minute of the match.
Petkovic said Algeria paid very heavily for its defense during the game.
“I can’t necessarily say it’s down to the defense or the defensive unit as a whole, but certainly, in terms of the way we defended as a team, we have been made to pay very heavily for that,” Petkovic said.
For the coach, every mistake equaled a goal against Algeria.
He said Algeria created more opportunities, but they were not converted into goals, while Switzerland created three chances and scored two.
Regardless of the result, the coach said it was already a big success to be back at the competition after 12 years away.
“And making it through the group stage for only the second time in our history, I think that’s also an excellent result,” he added.
Yesterday’s matches included Portugal vs. Croatia, with Ronaldo’s team securing a 2-1 win. Portugal struggled to get past Croatia, which also showed resilience and made several attempts to advance.
Spain, however, overwhelmed Austria 3-0.
