Algeria strolled to a comfortable 3-1 victory against Armenia on Saturday evening and Yacine Brahimi in particular was outstanding, as he tormented the opposition at will.
In just 61 minutes, Brahimi completed five dribbles and created a goal -- an impact that will surely force Vahid Halilhodzic to rethink his starting line-up in Brazil. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Brahimi's performance against Armenia was his defensive contribution, an area that coach often feels he neglects. Against the Eastern Europeans, Brahimi put in two tackles, the first of which led to Algeria's second goal.
After the match, I asked Halilhodzic if Algeria's inexperience worried him. The average player has just 16 caps and the coach admitted their immaturity could be the final stumbling block for this young and talented squad. When focused, they can cause any side the plenty of problems. But there are also spells in a match where Algeria turn off mentally.
Algeria's inexperience makes what occurred on June 2 even more baffling. FIFA required participating World Cup nations to provide their final squad of 23 players and World Cup stalwart Adlene Guedioura was axed.
He is a team vice-captain, who participated in all three matches in the 2010 World Cup and in six of eight World Cup qualification matches. Guedioura played extremely well against Armenia, completing 27 out of 32 passes, and his presence in Brazil will be sorely missed.
His teammates should now put emotions aside and look ahead to Wednesday evening where they will host Romania at the Stade de Geneve. Romania's style of play resembles that of Algeria's Group H opponent, Russia. Coach Victor Piturca makes sure his side are very hard to break down, which means his team often only need a goal to beat you.
Since 2011, Piturca has maintained that his goal is to qualify the team for Euro 2016. Romania lost out to Greece in the 2014 World Cup play-offs but Piturca is now looking to piece together the final pieces of his puzzle.
He has called up some youth for the two friendlies in Switzerland. Cristian Manea, just 16, became the youngest player ever to pull on the Romanian jersey, against Albania four days ago.
Yet that isn't to say that Piturca will take Algeria lightly. At the pre-match news conference on Tuesday morning, he stressed that his best eleven will play on Wednesday.
As for the North Africans, Halilhodzic has already mentioned that he will rotate his squad. The players that did not play against Armenia will have one final chance to showcase their ability in front their adoring fans. It is one final test for Algeria and one final chance to address any outstanding tactical problems Halilhodzic has with his squad.