Jordan vs. Algeria World Cup prediction: Odds, picks, best bet Monday

Jordan and Algeria will know the assignment Monday night.Both teams lost in their first match of the World Cup, and they’ve got tough assignments in their final contest in the group stage, so this is their best chance at getting a win.Bookmakers believe in the Algerians quite a bit more than the Jordanians, but with both teams going for it, this could be one of the tournament’s most underrated contests.Jordan couldn’t keep up with Austria in their first-ever World Cup match.Al-Nashama had some moments against Ralf Rangnick’s side, but the Austrians’ aggressive approach overwhelmed Jamal Sellami’s team, and the 3-1 final score was a pretty indication of how the match went.If anything, it flattered the Jordanians a bit.They should find the conditions a lot calmer against Algeria on Monday night.Although Les Fennecs have some scoring punch, they aren’t going to deploy the heavy-metal soccer approach that Austria did.

Rangnick invites chaos, while the Algerians will try to avoid it.The North Africans will know their best chance to win this match is to dominate the ball and try to protect themselves against the counter.Against most teams, and on most occasions, you’d expect Jordan to sit deep and just wait to counter, but given the circumstances, I expect Al-Nashama to come at Algeria and give it a real go.They play Argentina in their final match, so they’ll know they need a win Monday to give themselves a slight hope of advancing to the Round of 32 by earning a draw against Lionel Messi and Co.A more aggressive approach from Jordan should make this a pretty entertaining match, given the stakes, and it will only take one goal from either side to completely blow this thing open.This match may not look like much on paper, but the situation sets us up for some serious drama and excitement.The Play: Over 2.5 goals (-106, FanDuel)Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gamblin...