The Algerian team expressed their emotions after being eliminated from the Round of 16 of the 20^th FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Rabah Madjer, Lakhdar Belloumi and Salah Assad are tagged as legends by their fans. They are even called as cream of the crop players who surpassed their success by dragging their team in to the knockout stages for the very first time.

Since the CAF representatives' epic victory over West Germany and Spain 1982, each Algerian international has to lift up the expectations by that result.  "It's amazing to think that we've even managed to do better than the 1982-1986 generation," Medhi Lacen, a midfielder, told FIFA.com.

Medhi Lacen is one of the keys of their team. He helped his team to advance in the group stages and to have a shot in facing the Germany wherein they lost 2-1 in extra time. The Getafe player believed that ever since he started representing his country, there was always a lot to talk about the former generation. Yet, it did not put pressure on them even if people or the fans were drawing comparisons.

"It wasn't a burden, but it did crop up a lot," he said in his interview with FIFA.

He also confirmed that Algeria is one of the Africa's top three teams for many years now. And while some of the players resist dealing with a lot of pressure thru raised expectations, Lacen has decided to face it all up.

"We need to realize that a lot will be expected of us compared to other teams, and we shouldn't be afraid to live up to our new status and potential," he said. "We've often had waves of brilliant individuals, but they didn't always know how to play together. The arrival of Vahid Halilhodzic changed all that. There's been a huge improvement since I first got involved with the national team, but the work isn't finished yet," he added. (Source: FIFA.com)