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The final whistle blew at BC Place in Vancouver, with the scoreboard frozen at 0 2.
When the final whistle blew at BC Place in Vancouver, the scoreboard read 0-2.
Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic did not go to comfort his players. Instead, he walked straight toward the Swiss.
This post-match video went viral on Algerian social media. In the footage, the coach, who holds triple citizenship from Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, had just sent his home country out of the World Cup knockout stage. His first instinct was to go shake hands with the opposing team. Before the match, a reporter asked him how he viewed this "home country showdown." His exact words were: "This has nothing to do with me versus Switzerland. I am coaching Algeria." The words were polished, but his body language was painfully honest.
Just three days before the World Cup kicked off, on June 7, the Algerian Football Federation had renewed his contract through 2028.
From 2014 to 2021, Petkovic spent seven full years as head coach of the Swiss national team. He knew every detail of that opposing squad better than most Algerian fans in the stands. Swiss forward Breel Embolo even praised him before the match, saying, "He coached Switzerland for seven years and improved the team's level."
This was only the second time Algeria had advanced past the group stage in World Cup history. Across three group matches—0-3 against Argentina, 2-1 against Jordan, and 3-3 against Austria—plus the 0-2 knockout loss to Switzerland, they conceded a total of nine goals in the tournament. A team that reached the Round of 16 had a defense this leaky, only scraping through because their group opponents were even worse. Against Switzerland, Algeria had 55% possession, eight shots with two on target, and an expected goals (xG) of 0.73. Switzerland, on the other hand, had 11 shots with five on target and an xG of 2.52. The ball was at their feet for ninety minutes, but the number of times they actually delivered it into dangerous areas could be counted on two hands. That 55% possession was essentially turned into a rosary of safe passes.
Petkovic's biggest tactical obsession over the past two years was a false-nine formation. He refused to start a proper center-forward, constantly changing the lineup, and never developed a stable attacking pattern by the time the World Cup began. On the defensive end, Aïssa Mandi, a 12-year national team veteran with a record 122 caps who had outlasted three generations of coaches, was easily beaten one-on-one by Manzambi from 40 meters out on the first goal conceded. Le Parisien directly criticized him in their post-match report.
Veterans like Bentalib and Mandi started match after match, while Ilyes Khebaïr of Paris FC didn't even make the 26-man squad. The official reason was injury, but French media directly used the word "excluded." Petkovic would rather stubbornly cling to experience than give young players time, and in the knockout stage, that experience yielded nothing.
The 0-2 scoreboard bore two names: Embolo, who broke through the defense on a quick counterattack in the 10th minute, and N'Doye, who added another goal in the 46th minute, right after the second half kicked off. Switzerland ended an 88-year drought of World Cup knockout wins with this victory. The last time they won a knockout match was in 1938. Algeria, by being eliminated, inadvertently helped their opponent rewrite history.
The post-match press conference was even more frustrating than the game itself. Assistant coach Morandi told the media that the team "had put Switzerland in a difficult position." Head coach Petkovic attributed the elimination to "efficiency issues." When asked about conceding nine goals in the tournament, he dismissed it with, "The opponents were on a completely different level." With a 0-2 loss, a foundation of nine goals conceded, and comments like these, it's hard to tell if this was stubbornness or genuine blindness. Eight shots with two on target and an xG of 0.73—he called that creating chances.
Riyad Mahrez announced his retirement from the national team in the mixed zone, ending a 12-year international career with 119 caps. As the core of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team and the flagbearer of this squad, he deserved a better farewell. In the group match against Austria, he scored in the 90+3rd minute, thinking he had secured qualification. Two minutes later, Kalajdzic equalized with a header. 3-3. His final dance fell short by just two minutes.
Mandi also left. A record 122 caps, a 12-year international career, and his final tournament memory was a slow-motion replay of being easily beaten by a Swiss winger.
In 1982, Algeria defeated West Germany 2-1 in the World Cup group stage: Madjer opened the scoring in the 54th minute, Rummenigge equalized in the 67th, and Belloumi scored the winner a minute later. That was the brightest day for this nation in the World Cup. In the 44 years since, they have played 10 matches against European teams in the World Cup, with four draws and six losses—not a single win.
On July 3, 2026, in Vancouver, the video of Petkovic walking toward the Swiss players was still going viral on social media. The record of 44 years without a win against European teams added an 11th entry, and the coach, who had just signed a contract extension through 2028, was busy embracing his opponents.