African Cup of Nations: beaten by Mauritania, Algeria eliminated again in the first round

L'Algérie (ici face au Burkina Faso) encore au tapis. MAXPPP – Anis/APP

Une victoire inédite de la Mauritanie mardi 23 janvier a précipité l'Algérie vers l'élimination de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations dès les poules, comme en 2022. 

Algeria is eliminated in the first round of the African Cup for the second consecutive time, by Mauritania (1-0), which won the first on Tuesday in Bouaké victory in its history in the competition and will see the 8th finals.

Another hiccup for the Riyad Mahrez generation coached for five and a half years by Djamel Belmadi. The 2019 African champions had already finished last in their group at CAN 2022, and missed the World Cup for a few seconds in the play-offs against Cameroon (1-0, 1-2 after).

Mahrez on the bench, a push for nothing

If Mauritania is assured of a best third place with two teams lower ranked than it, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the&# The failure is terrible for Algeria, with a transparent Mahrez in the first two matches, against Angola (1-1) and Burkina Faso (2-2), and on the bench on Tuesday . Belmadi, who always defended him in Ivory Coast, brought him on during the break, but in vain.

The push of the "Greens" did not allow an equalizer, as in the last minutes against Burkina Faso. Youcef Belaïli, for example, was unable to take advantage of an exit far from his goal by the excellent goalkeeper Babacar Niasse (66).

Amir Abdou does the Comoros again

But the real hero of "Mourabitounes" Her name is Yaly Dellahi. He is captain, defender, and plays in Iraq for Al-Hedood. It was he who scored the goal that children in Nouakchott or Nouadhibou will be told about for a long time. Taking advantage of a blocked shot diverted to his feet by Mohamed Tougai, he deceived Anthony Mandrea (37). The Caen goalkeeper, however, delayed the deadline for a long time against Souleymane Anne (14), Aboubakary Koita "AK47" (45+3) or even a header from Dellahi (49) or Aboubakar Kamara (82). Because the Mourabitounes deserved their success. They learned the lessons of their previous good matches, where they were countered after being tied with Burkina Faso (1-0) and Angola (3-2).

Their coach Amir Abdou did it again in 2022 with the Comoros, snatching qualification in the last match after two initial defeats. His team brought down Ghana (3-2), he added another African giant to his record. The Marseillais was scared until the end, due to the sole hand fault of Niasse (90+5), and suffered from his team missing knockout balls, notably on a strike from Papa Ibnou Ba on the bar (85th). But his whole group exploded with joy at the final whistle, to the great joy of the Ivorian public who had sided with his team.