In the Netherlands' send-off game, manager Ronald Koeman handed West Ham winger Crysencio Summerville his debut, while Brighton's Mats Wieffer replaced the suspended and Real Madrid-bound Denzel Dumfries. Summerville's call-up for the World Cup was his first for Oranje.
The first bit of danger in De Kuip came from on-fire Donyell Malen, who hit the post in the eighth minute after cleverly turning away from Aissa Mandi. Crysencio Summerville and Tijjani Reijders combined for a goal shortly after, but had their breakthrough ruled out for offside.
The Netherlands kept pushing for an opening goal through the speed of Crysencio Summerville and Malen, who combined right before the 20th minute, but the latter couldn't put Summerville's pass across goal into Luca Zidane's net.
Oranje's high pressing earned Tijjani Reijnders another chance right before Algeria made their presence known - in front of thousands of Algerian fans, Brighton's Bart Verbruggen saw one effort be deflected over his goal before catching a fiery shot from Nabil Bentaleb.
As a monsoon hit Rotterdam, Donyell Malen was repeatedly looked for by his teammates, but Micky van de Ven's cross ended up in Zidane's hands, while Wieffer's low cross was broken up by the Fennecs' defence.
Left to rue missed chances
After a host of substitutes during half-time, including a goalkeeper switch that gave Sunderland's Robin Roefs his Netherlands debut, Reijnders and Malen came close once more, but failed to find the net as Roma striker missed another one-on-one with Zidane.
Justin Kluivert was the next to test Zidane with a shot from distance, but the Granada stopper continued his fine evening with a likewise save. Memphis Depay, the Netherlands' all-time top scorer, forced the next save out of Luca Zidane.
Instead, Feyenoord star Anis Hadj Moussa earned Algeria a rather shocking lead in the 82nd minute, firing the ball into Roefs' top corner in the stadium where he's scored often.
The Netherlands failed in their efforts to set up last-ditch chances to win the friendly, as they were left to rue their missed chances, with a 1-0 defeat to Algeria sending Oranje to the United States for the World Cup.
Ronald Koeman's team play one more friendly before the World Cup, with Uzbekistan the opponent in New York City on June 8th in a game played behind closed doors.