Forget about 2002 flop, Kek tells Slovenia

Matjaz Kek says Slovenia play for their pride.

POLOKWANE // Matjaz Kek, the Slovenia coach, wants his team to forget about their previous World Cup appearance in 2002, when they lost all three games. Slovenia's opening Group C match is against Algeria today and Kek said the quest for a first World Cup win should not put pressure on the team. "There is no room for fear or agony, we play for our pride," Kek said after Slovenia completed their final training session at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.

None of the 23 players in the current squad were on the roster when Slovenia lost to Spain, South Africa and Paraguay eight years ago. "Every World Cup is a new challenge and I feel that my team is very motivated to do well," said Kek, who himself played once for the national team in 1992, a year after Slovenia gained independence from former Yugoslavia. "We are ready. We've now arrived at the point we were hoping for," said the coach, who declined to give any insight into his line-up for the Algeria game. Both teams are classed as outsiders in a group that also contains England and the United States.

Kek promised in the build-up to the tournament his team would take risks to play entertaining football but Zlatko Dedic, the striker, whose goal in a 1-0 play-off win over Russia sent Slovenia through to the finals, said the players had other ideas. "Winning the opening game would open the door to the last 16 and we don't care how we do it, as far as I am concerned we can win all three group matches 1-0 with our goalkeeper Samir Handanovic being the only scorer," he said.

The Algerians won every home match at home during qualifying, but had to beat Egypt in a heated play-off in Sudan to secure the last of the African spots at the first World Cup ever staged on their continent. Increasing the degree of difficulty, Rabah Saadane, the Algeria coach, has announced he will drop Yazid Mansouri, the captain, for the Slovenia game because his form was not good enough. The team's most experienced player with 67 caps will be replaced in midfield by Medhi Lacen, while defender Anther Yahia will wear the captain's armband.

"We have nothing to lose," Madjid Bougherra, the Algeria defender, said. "We have no pressure." Unlike Slovenia, Algeria have at least won a match at a World Cup - but that was 28 years ago. Neither team has gone beyond the group stage at the World Cup. Algeria came close in 1982 but wins over Germany and Chile weren't enough to progress. It will be the first ever World Cup match to be played on a surface partly consisting of artificial grass at the 45,000-seat Peter Mokaba Stadium. The Polokwane venue has millions of threads of synthetic grass fibres woven in between and beneath the natural grass.

* AP Watch Algeria v Slovenia (3.30pm), Ghana v Serbia (6pm) and Germany v Australia (10.30pm) all on Aljazeera Sport +9 and Aljazeera World Cup