The north Africans, who last featured at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, were hardly given a chance of reaching the finals just over a year ago.

Yet they defied those odds and will now head to South Africa fully confident - and perhaps even thinking of the second round - despite being in a first-round group which also features one of the favourites in England, the USA and Slovenia.

For coach Rabah Saadane, the journey was a marathon one - and one that capped a remarkable story within a story, given that he was the man who led the country during their last appearance all those years ago.

Reaching South Africa was made even sweeter for the Desert Foxes considering they pipped regional rivals Egypt to the line.

Add that to their impressive African Nations Cup display - they finished fourth in Angola - and it all made good reading for Saadane, who is pleased with how far his side have come.

"We have improved as a unit and we retain possession of the ball much better," he told www.fifa.com.

"During the qualification campaign we were under pressure to get results and that affected our performances a little.

"But in the African Nations Cup we overcame the conditions and kept hold of the ball more and moved it around."

Saadane, now in his fifth spell in charge, has not always been a popular choice back home but has continued to silence his critics with his results.

Despite struggling through the second qualifying phase on the road to South Africa, and then being drawn with the Pharaohs - a side they have historically played second fiddle to - they still managed to get through.

The two were inseparable after Group C came to a close with four wins, one draw and a loss apiece.

They required world governing body FIFA to put in place an historic one-game play-off at a neutral venue, in this case Sudan, before being eventually separated, courtesy of an Antar Yahia strike that handed Algeria the vital win.

"I was so happy," Saadane said. "Especially because I was the last coach to take Algeria to the World Cup, back in 1986.

"Obviously, I would have preferred my country to have qualified for the World Cup before now, but I am thrilled to be taking the team back to the finals."

The coach has also enjoyed a useful build-up to the World Cup with an encouraging display at the African Nations Cup, where they were not even given a chance of progressing through the group stage.

But the entire squad showed responsibility, notably Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra, to help them reach the last four in a run that saw them famously dump out the mighty Ivory Coast in the quarter-final.

Fabio Capello'sEngland and the US are likely to be a different proposition altogether, though, come South Africa, but Saadane is not daunted, warning that his side would also be dangerous.

He added: "England are the favourites and the USA are up and coming, we have seen that through them qualifying for the last six World Cups. They are the two teams but we cannot forget about Slovenia.

"The objective for our young players was to reach the World Cup in the first place. Now that they've achieved that there's no pressure on them whatsoever.

"That said, we still have our role to play, and we're going to be doing everything we can to make a go of this World Cup, to give it our all.

"Our aim is to enjoy ourselves against the best teams in the world, starting with the teams in our group, and to put maximum effort into them, no matter what the results."