World Cup: Russia bow out of World Cup as Algeria return to haunt Capello
RUSSIA 1 ALGERIA 1
ALGERIA reached the last 16 for the first time in their history last night, proving the scourge of a Fabio Capello team for the second World Cup in a row.
Russia looked set to join Belgium in the knockout phase having taken a sixth-minute lead through Aleksandr Kokorin.
But Islam Slimani’s header on the hour was enough for the north African side to progress through the group stage at their fourth attempt to set up a meeting with three-time world champions Germany.
Capello failed in his previous attempt to beat Algeria while in charge with England in 2010 and has now overseen just one victory in seven World Cup matches.
That record looked to be heading for some improvement on six minutes when Kokorin met Dmitri Kombarov’s left-wing cross with a fine header that sailed past goalkeeper Rais M’Bolhi.
But Algeria’s historic equaliser arrived on the hour when Slimani rose at the back post to head in his second goal of the tournament.