DEFENDING CHAMPIONS ALGERIA CRASH OUT IN THRILLER AS IVORY COAST STAKE AFCON CLAIM
2019 Africa Cup of Nations champions Algeria took on Cote d’Ivoire in a matchday three Group E encounter at Japoma Stadium in Douala on Thursday night. Algeria had failed to score in their first two group matches and had only picked up one of a possible six points. The Algerians went into the game knowing that anything but a win would send them home. A possible four points from the group would see them advance into the knockout stages and give them a chance to defend their African crown. A loss would have them finish bottom of the group.
Algeria won their first Africa Cup of Nations title in 1990 but failed to get out of the group in the following tournament in 1992 after a 3-0 loss to Cote d’Ivoire, who went on to lift the trophy. The Desert Foxes were looking to make sure that history didn’t repeat itself by taking all three points in Douala.
Algerian head coach and tactician Djamel Belmadi had been successful with his team thus far, leading the North African nation to win its second Africa Cup of Nations title in 2019 and its first FIFA Arab Cup in 2021, just 24 days before the champions’ opening AFCON game against Sierra Leone. The Desert Foxes were fully aware of the tough night ahead as they came up against a free-scoring Cote d’Ivoire side (the Ivorians had scored three goals in their first two games). Algeria needed maximum points and an Equatorial Guinea loss against Sierra Leone to qualify as group runners-up.
Having taken four points from the first two games, Cote d’Ivoire only needed a draw to advance as group leaders. They were coming off of a disappointing 2-2 draw against Sierra Leone in which they conceded an injury-time equalizer from Alhaji Kamara. Les Éléphants went into the game looking to right some wrongs and elevate their status as tournament contenders. The past 4 encounters between these two teams had produced a total of 15 goals and fans braced themselves for another goal-fest.
Ivory Coast head coach Patrice Beaumelle made only two changes from the side that drew with Sierra Leone. 21-year old Bayer Leverkusen center-back Odilon Kossounou came in for the injured Eric Bailly while former Leeds United and AFC Bournemouth midfielder Max-Alain Gradel came in for Wilfried Zaha.
Djamel Belmadi made four changes in midfield and up-front bringing in 23-year old FC Twente midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki, AC Milan’s Ismael Bennacer, West Ham’s Said BenRahma, and Al Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah in a more attacking lineup.
Algeria started the game positively controlling possession and earned a free-kick outside the area within the first minute. All their hopes would be dampened, however, in the 22nd minute as Franck Kessie scored from a Nicolas Pepe cut-back. The AC Milan man looked bright in the opening exchanges and started the move playing the ball for Nico Pepe who played a 1-2 with Max Gradel. The Sivasspor man played Pepe in who cut the ball back for Kessie. 25-year old Kessie then coolly slotted the ball past Algeria’s Rais M’Bolhi after running into the box open and unmarked.
Algeria looked vulnerable defensively especially on set pieces and things got worse for them as they conceded another goal before halftime. An unmarked Ibrahim Sangare got a free header on the end of a Serge Aurier free-kick and scored in the 39th minute, sending the Ivory Coast fans in the Japoma Stadium into a frenzy. The 24-year old PSV Eindhoven defensive midfielder, who will be highly touted to make a move to one of Europe’s top clubs in the transfer market this summer, has scored an impressive 4 goals in 20 caps for his country.
The defending champions pushed for a goal before halftime but couldn’t get the ball past Cote d’Ivoire goalkeeper Badra Ali Sangare who made a save from a Youcef Belaili shot just before the half.
The Algerians desperately needed a goal and substituted in former Leicester City striker Islam Slimani for Said BenRahma during the break. BenRahma struggled to have any impact on the game in the first half. Les Éléphants, however, started the second half brighter of the two sides and found a third goal 9 minutes into the half, nearly taking the game out of reach for the defending champions. Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe was played through by Ajax’s Sebastien Haller and cut in, teasing Algeria’s Aissa Mandi, and curled the ball past M’Bolhi in goal. It was three and it was a mountain to climb for Algeria.
The Desert Foxes went on the hunt and won a penalty four minutes later. Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez stepped up, sent Badra Ali the wrong way but failed to hit the target as the ball hit the post.
Djamel Belmadi then made two substitutions, bringing in Yacine Brahimi and Al-Fateh’s Sofiane Bendebka for Baghdad Bounedjah and Ismael Bennacer.
The defending champions, unrelenting, pressed on and won a corner. From a training ground play in which the ball is played for Youcef Belaili just outside the area, Algeria got their first and only goal at AFCON 2021. Belaili’s wayward shot was kept in-bounds by Mandi and the ball fell kindly for Bendebka who headed it into the back of the net.
Despite pressing on for a second goal, it was Ivory Coast that put the ball in the back of the net before the full-time whistle instead of Algeria. Serey Die, the substitute, was played in by Wilfried Zaha and crossed the ball for Sebastien Haller who put a bullet header past Rais M’Bolhi for what would have been his second goal of the tournament. After review, however, the former West Ham United man was deemed to be offside and the goal was scrapped off. The game ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Desert Foxes who will need to not dwell on a disappointing AFCON campaign as Belmadi’s men have a third-round World Cup qualification for Qatar 2022 to focus on coming up in March.
-Maher Abucheri
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