Tweet me!Algerians have been sentenced to go back home after the 1 - 0 defeat against a hard working, know what they want team.
Landon Donovan's dramatic stoppage-time goal secured a narrow victory over Algeria and fired the United States into the last 16 of the World Cup as group winners.
The US were on the brink of going out of the competition when Donovan followed up a sharp save from goalkeeper Raid Ouheb M'bolhi in the 92nd minute to smash the ball home.
Until that moment it had been a story of inspired saves from M'bolhi, poor American finishing and a lineman's error, which denied Clint Dempsey a goal in the first half.
Algeria, who qualified for the finals via a play-off victory over Egypt, showed plenty of promise in their build-up play, only for most of their attacks to fizzle out on the edge of the penalty area.
The Algerians, who would have been going out even with a draw, had captain Anther Yahia sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the dying moments.
But Donovan's late intervention delivered a deserved victory, which pushed England into second place in Group C on goals scored following their 1-0 victory over Slovenia.
Knowing that a victory would send them through, US coach Bob Bradley threw on attackers Edson Buddle and Benny Feilhaber, whose low shot was saved by the legs of M'bolhi.
With the Americans committed to attack, Algeria began to threaten on the break and Karim Ziani flashed a low shot wide when well-placed inside the box.
But just as the Americans appeared to be running out of steam, the winning goal finally arrived.
Altidore raced clear down the right and crossed for Dempsey, whose point-blank effort was parried by the goalkeeper. The loose ball rolled into the path of Donovan, who made no mistake from six yards to send the American players and fans into raptures.
Today, Landon Donovan helped his country to create a new page in the history of football. The captain is a hero, and surely now, a living legend. The Americans could have been the second big side – after France yesterday – to exit from the group stages, but that was not to be. For Algeria, this was quite a way to have broken hearts with Captain Antar Yahia seeing red inside the third minute of injury time.
Algeria are out; they couldn’t fulfill the promise they had made to all their fans and it’s now down to Ghana to lift Africa on their shoulders. The USA could meet the Black Stars in the CAN 2010 runners-up finish second in Group D.
AlgerianAmericans.com June 23th 2010
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