Yacine BrahimiGetty

Algeria coach Madjer and captain Brahimi hail Portugal for World Cup

It was a fourth straight defeat for Algeria as pressure mounts on Madjer to step down from his position.

A Goncalo Guedes brace and Bruno Fernandes' strike sank the Algerians and condemned Madjer to an overal record of just two victories, a draw and four defeats since taking over from Spaniard Lucas Alcaraz last November.

Preceding this defeat were other losses to Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

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European champions Portugal featured Real Madrid star and captain Cristiano Ronaldo who set up Fernandes' goal.

With Portugal going to the World Cup in Russia as one of the teams tipped to contend, Madjer settled for an easy justification for the defeat.

The 59-year-old former Porto and Valencia forward told the post-match press conference that his team “has no reason to be ashamed of this defeat against a very high-level opponent who will present themselves at the next World Cup in the skin of the favorite.”

This comes as Algeria's former coach at the 2014 Fifa World Cup Vahid Halilhodzic is being touted to return, while current Morocco coach Herve Renard has also been linked with the Algerian job in the event that Madjer gets the boot.

The situation in the Desert Foxes camp even prompted the Algeria Football Federation (Faf) to issue a statement earlier this week in support of Madjer.

Captain Brahimi has also tried to calm down the situation, echoing his coach’s sentiments.

“…we played against a great team that is European champion in title and a favourite for the final coronation at the World Cup,” he was quoted as saying on the Faf official website.

Algeria will next be in action in September when they travel to Gambia for a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and it is not certain if Madjer would still be in charge.

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