Algeria’s National football team defeated Iran 2-1 in a friendly match held at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar Sunday night.

Riad Benayad opened the scoring for Algeria two minutes before the halftime.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh equalized the match in the 64th minute but Algerian winger Mohamed El Amine Amoura scored the winner in the 82nd minute. Both the Algerian goals were gifts from Iranian defenders.

The match started more than 20 minutes late due to the late arrival of the Algerian bus to the Qatar FC stadium. There was also a minute of silence before the match for the tragic accidents in Iran and the death of the Algerian National team player, Billel Benhammouda who was killed in a car accident after returning home from a match in which he scored a goal.

The first half saw action from both teams but a horrible back pass lead to the first goal for Algeria just before the half times.

In the second half, Jahabakh found the back of the net and the Iran equalizer from an assist by Omid Nourafkan.

Another wayward defending due to the pressure that Algerians were exerting on the Iranian ball carrier resulted in the Algerian winner.

Despite the defeat, Team Melli plays some neat football, but the players are obviously in need of much more than this match in order to perform well to their true ability at the world cup. Algeria was virtually playing with the U23 team while Team Melli was at full strength minus the two central defenders, Khalilzadeh and Kananizadegan.