Argentina Seeks to Restore South American Pride Against Algeria

World champions Argentina are set to play Algeria overnight, between Tuesday and Wednesday at 4:00 a.m., in a match framed as more than just a World Cup fixture. The team, led by Lionel Scaloni, is aiming to revive South American pride after a poor start for the continent's teams in the tournament.

So far, four South American sides have played and none have won. Brazil and Uruguay drew with Morocco and Saudi Arabia, while Paraguay and Ecuador lost to the United States and Ivory Coast. It is the worst opening for South American teams since 1974, when they managed one draw and three defeats.

Argentina are expected to have a full squad, with the exception of injured defender Nicolas Tagliafico. They won both of their warm-up matches and face an Algeria side that is returning to the World Cup for the first time since 2014. Algeria will be without Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ramy Bensebaini, one of its key players, because of an ankle injury.

Lionel Messi is expected to start for Argentina. The projected Argentina lineup is Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Facundo Medina; Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Thiago Almada; Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez. Algeria's expected lineup is Luca Zidane; Rafiq Belghali, Aissa Mandi, Samir Chergui, Rayan Ait-Nouri; Farès Chaïbi, Hicham Boudaoui, Houssem Aouar; Riyad Mahrez, Amine Gouiri and Mohamed Amoura.