After a 2-3 loss versus Iraq's Olympic football team on July 13, Algeria tied the score with a 2-0 win on July 17.
The friendly matches were hosted by Algeria in preparation for the Olympic football tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The first match featured a single goal in the first half, scored by Iraq’s Ali Adnan. Tunisia had a strong start in the second half, with Algeria’s Baghdad Bounedjah tying the score four minutes into the second half.
Sofiane Bendebka followed with another Algerian goal at the 63rd minute, but Iraq soon recovered and Hammadi Ahmad evened the score nine minutes later. Iraq’s Saed Abdulamir claimed the win in the 93rd minute.
However, in Sunday’s match, the teams started off on the same level, ending the first half with no goals. Algeria stepped up in the second half, with Bounedjah and Abderrahmane Meziane Bentahar scoring the winning goals.
The teams recently announced their squads for the Rio Olympics. Iraq, who was drawn into Group A along with Brazil, Denmark and South Africa, will be coached by Abdul-Ghani Shahad and lead by star player Saad Abdul-Amir, who plays for Saudi Arabian team Al-Qadisiyah.
Nicknamed the "Lions of Mesopotamia," the 2016 Iraqi Olympic players include several stars who play for European clubs, namely Turkish Rizespor Club’s trio Dhurgham Ismail, Ali Faez and Ali Husni, along with Italian Udinese Club’s Ali Adnan, Hawbir Mustafa from Germany’s MVV Maastricht, plus Swiss Grasshopper’s Sherko Karim. They will be joined by Captain Saad Abdul-Amir and Emirati Al-Wasel’s Ahmad Ibrahim, as well as local players Hammadi Ahmad, Fahad Talib, Mohammed Hameed, Mustafa Nadhim, Saad Natiq, Alaa Ali Mhawi, Mahdi Kamel, Humam Tariq, Amjad Attwan, Saad Abdul-Amir and Muhannad Abdul-Raheem.
On the other hand, Algeria was drawn into a challenging Group D for the 2016 Olympics and grouped with Argentina, Honduras and Portugal. Algeria's Olympic football team is coached by the Swiss Pierre-André Schürmann. He will mainly rely on locals and has only chosen three players who play outside Algeria, according to Kingfut .
The Algerian roster consists of French Tours Football Clubs’ Haris Belkebla, Rachid Ait Atmane who plays at Sporting Gijon in Spain, plus Qatari Al-Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah. Additionally, Abdelkadir Salhi, Farid Chaal, Miloud Rebiai, Ayoub Abdellaoui, Ryad Keniche, Houari Ferhani, Abdelraouf Benguit, Abdelghani Demmou, Zakaria Draoui, Mohamed Benkhemassa, Sofiane Bendebka, Zakaria Haddouche, Mohamed Benkablia, Abderrahmane Meziane Bentahar and Oussama Darfalou are on the team.
The Algerian Olympic team has left for a training camp in Spain, where it is scheduled to play two friendly games.
Earlier this month, Iraq’s Olympic team beat Sweden’s Kalmar Club with a single goal by Ali Adnan.
The Rio games will mark Iraq’s fourteenth Olympic participation and its football team’s fifth. The team’s biggest achievement occurred in the Athens 2004 Olympics, when the Iraqi football players made it to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Algeria has only previously qualified for the football event of the Olympic Games once, at the Moscow 1980 Olympics.