Cup survival already on line for Slovenia, Algeria

POLOKWANE, South Africa (AP):

Slovenia and Algeria will already be playing for World Cup survival when they meet in their opening Group C match today.

After reaching South Africa 2010 via continental play-offs, Slovenia and Algeria are underdogs in a group which also contains England and the United States.

If anything, that favours Slovenia, which had to overcome European heavyweight Russia to earn a spot in the World Cup for the second time and have recently beaten Qatar 4-1 and New Zealand 3-1 in international friendlies.

Attacking midfielder Nejc Pecnik said the team still will not take anything for granted against their lower-ranked African opponents, which Slovenia have never played before.

"Our coach and his assistant have had a good look at them and they play organised football. We will respect them," Pecnik said.

It would be a major upset for either Slovenia or Algeria to finish first or second in the group and advance to the knockout stage - let alone after starting off with a defeat. But defeat has not come into Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek's calculations. He says "we are able to make it to the second round".

The Algerians won every home match during qualifying, but had to beat Egypt in a play-off to secure the last of the African spots at the first World Cup ever staged on their continent.

Increasing the degree of difficulty, Algeria coach Rabah Saadane has announced he will drop captain Yazid Mansouri for the Slovenia game because his form was not good enough.

The team's most experienced player with 67 caps will be replaced in midfield by Medhi Lacen, while defender Anther Yahia will wear the captain's armband. Yahia left Friday's training early with a left ankle injury, but had already fully recovered the next day.

Saadane yesterday declined to give more details on who will start for Algeria, but said "it will be the line-up you expect".

The coach showed respect for Slovenia, calling the opponent "a compact team that holds the ball well".

Algeria defender Madjid Bougherra said he was "starting to feel the pressure. It was a dream come true when we qualified and now we are very much ready to perform well".

After the World Cup qualifying, Algeria went on to reach the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations but then lost momentum when they were beaten 3-0 by both Serbia and Ireland in two recent warm-up matches.

Unlike Slovenia, Algeria have at least won a match at a World Cup - but that was 28 years ago.

Neither team has gone beyond the group stage at the World Cup. Algeria came close in 1982 but wins over Germany and Chile weren't enough to progress - even if they were the first African country to win two group matches at a single World Cup tournament. In their only other appearance at the finals four years later, Algeria ended at the bottom of the group.

Slovenia's only previous experience in football's marquee event was in 2002 when they lost all three matches against Spain, South Africa and Paraguay.