Toothless Algeria sent packing as AFCON woes continue

Algeria suffered a 1-0 defeat to Mauritania in their final group game to bid farewell to AFCON 2023 in the group stage as they did two years ago in Cameroon.

For the second edition running, the Desert Warriors of Algeria have been dumped out of the African Cup of Nations after failing to record a win in three group games.

The 2019 winner headed to Cameroon two years ago with the intentions of defending the crown they won for a second time by defeating Senegal 1-0 in the final in Egypt.

Unfortunately, they finished bottom of Group E having suffered defeats against Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guniea, while they were held by Sierra Leone for their only point of the tournament that year.

How has Algeria fall in AFCON 2023 ?

This time, Djamel Belmadi’s side were drawn in Group D of the AFCON, and are odds on to dominate a group which also has the like of Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania.

Despite taking an early lead through Bagdad Bounedjah in their opening game with Angola, they were pegged back and held in a 1-1 draw as Job Mabululu converted a 68th minute penalty after Nabil Bentaleb was penalized for a foul on the striker.

They came from behind twice to earn another point in a 2-2 draw with Burkina Faso in their second game. Algeria had a Bagdad Bounedjah brace to thank for the point, which included a 95th minute penalty.

Algeria missed a golden chance

A point in their final group game against Mauritania would have been enough to reach the AFCON knockout round as one of the best third place teams but to compound a disastrous outing, the had no response to Yali Dellahi’s 37th minute strike for Mauritania.

That proved the only goal of the encounter and Mauritania, who had zero point heading into the game ended the night with three and in third place, which is enough to make them earn a spot in the knockout round.

Algeria followed the path of Ghana and both have now suffered consecutive eliminations in the AFCON from the group stages as their struggles in the competition continue.

Hassan Afolabi