South Korea 2-4 Algeria: Desert Foxes edge unlikely goalfest

Algeria claimed their first World Cup win since 1982 and rose into second place in Group H after coming out on top of a 4-2 goalfest against South Korea in Porto Alegre.

It was a chaotic game at times, as the Desert Foxes opened up a 3-0 half-time lead, with the South Koreans regrouping and netting twice after the break, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a deserved Algeria win.

In an open Group H, the North Africans now sit in second place with three points, behind group leaders Belgium, who overcame Russia in the day’s earlier kick-off.

Having impressed in their opener against the group favourites, scoring first but eventually losing 2-1, the surprise-package Algerians started brightly, though they were wasteful in front of goal.

It was bedlam in the South Korea box as Algeria had a penalty shout waved away and shanked a few close-range chances over the bar, but the North Africans eventually opened the scoring after 26 minutes.

Islam Slimani, brought into the side to spearhead the Desert Foxes’ flaky attack, converted a route-one attack to spark pandemonium within the Algeria camp.

And that was swiftly followed by their second two minutes later as the South Korean defence crumbled, former Fulham centre-back Rafik Halliche towering over the onrushing goalkeeper to power home a header, while Abdelmoumene Djabou added a third on the stroke of half-time.

South Korea were all over the place but rallied after the break, with Son Heung-Min pulling one back four minutes into the second half, blasting a shot through the Algerian goalkeeper’s legs after a fortunate touch off the Bayer Leverkusen striker’s back flabbergasted his markers.

But any hopes of a comeback were extinguished on the hour mark as a wonderful Algerian team goal put the win out beyond doubt. Sofiane Feghouli and Yacine Brahimi played a brilliant one-two on the edge of the box, with Brahimi firing coolly into the back of the net.

Koo Ja-Cheol did net another for South Korea to put a dent in the scoreline, but the deficit was too large to close in the final 20 minutes.