São Paulo – Algeria is still going for the classification for the round of 16 at the World cup. After losing 2 – 1 against Belgium on Tuesday (17th), in Belo Horizonte, the Arab team won against South Korea 4 – 2 on this Sunday (22nd), in Porto Alegre. And once again supporters flocked to the stadium. According to Rio Grande do Sul’s government’s website, 42,000 people, among Algerians, Brazilians and South Koreans, watched the game at the stadium Beira-Rio.
After the victory, Islam Slimani, striker of the “greens”, as the Algerian team is known, stressed the support and enthusiasm of the supporters. “That is the way our supporters are, you haven’t seen a thing yet,” said the athlete, chosen as the best player in the match, according to the website of the government. The Algerian team went to the part of the stadium where the supporters were located to celebrate the victory.
One of these supporters is Dekkar Rafik, who is in Brazil for the first time and watches all Algeria’s games. “People here are very nice, everything is well-organized and there is a lot of beef in the city,” he said, according to the website. Barbecue is typically eaten in Rio Grande do Sul.
According to the government’s website, besides Algerian who flew to Porto Alegre, 30 buses took Algerian supporters from other Brazilian states to the city. There were also 800 people who were in Gramado, in the Gaucho Highlands (Serra Gaúcha).
According to information from the state government, the attendance of the Algerian public helped Gramado’s hotel break the occupancy rate by foreign visitors. Over 30% of the beds in the city were occupied by foreign tourists, surpassing previous 3% record.
With the result, Algeria got 2nd place in Group H with three points, behind Belgium, with six, and ahead of Russia and South Korea, both scoring only one point. Two teams per group move to the next stage.
Belgium is already classified, but which team gets the second spot will be decided only in the third turn of the group, which will be held on Thursday (26th). Algeria and Russia will play at stadium Arena da Baixada, in Curitiba, and South Korea and Belgium will play at the Itaquerão stadium, in São Paulo.
But there were also problems at the game on Sunday. According to the website of Porto Alegre’s mayor hall, supporter Djamell Marref was injured in the face in a brawl with fellow Algerian supporters and suffered a hemorrhage in one of the eyes. He was rushed to the hospital (Hospital de Pronto Socorro or HPS) and was in observation until this Monday (23rd) morning.
Another Algerian supporter, according to the mayor hall’s website, went to the First care unity (Unidade de Pronto Atendimento or UPA) of Fifa’s Fan Fest in Porto Alegre. According to the website, he fell and hurt his knee, though stiches were not necessary so he was released soon after.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
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