Halilhodzic: Armenia are not Belgium

Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic made sure his players knew they would face tougher opposition following a 3-1 win over Armenia on Saturday.

Essaid Belkalem, Nabil Ghilas and Islam Slimani all found the net to put Algeria 3-0 up at half-time in the FIFA World Cup warm-up, with Artur Yuspashyan pulling one back just after the break.

And while expressing his satisfaction with the performance, Halilhodzic knows his men will need to up their game considerably before their World Cup opener against Belgium on June 17.

“We were well into the game by pressing high our opponent,” he is quoted as saying by Le Buteur . “We imposed our game to Armenia and that allowed us to score three goals.

“I enjoyed the performance of my players, even if I lived a nightmare in the last 20 minutes of the match.

“After that, we must also recognise that Armenia is not Belgium.”

As well as Belgium, Algeria line up alongside Russia and South Korea in Group H.