Ahead of the crucial game with Mauritania, Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi was so sure that his players will win against the team with two defeats that he decided to leave on the bench no less than five first-team players: Captain Riyad Mahrez, Nabil Bentaleb, Sofiane Feghouli, Bensebaini and Belaili. Needless to say, he regretted it after the first 45 minutes, when his team allowed themselves to be 1-0 down. And even thou he made changes in the second half, it didn’t matter, because Mauritania made a sensation with a win. Not only was it their first ever AFCON win, but due to the Angola’s win over Burkina Faso in the other match in the group, Mauritia also secured their first even knockout phase. Due to the new format of the AFCON, four best third-placed teams will also advance and with three points and the Dodos will be among them. On the other side, Algeria infamously crashed out of AFCON in the group stage for the second time in a row, and this will surely be the end of coach Belmadi. He was not sacked when the Desert Foxes crashed out in the last AFCON, he was not sacked when Algeria failed to qualify for the World Cup, but this failure will be too much. With so many stars in the team, Algeria should have made three wins with not much trouble, but instead finished the competition with no wins and two draws. A shame. 🚨🌐 GOAL⚽|AFCON| Algeria 0-1 Mauritania| WHAT A GOAL MAURITANIA DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE🔥#CHEMID #middlesbrough #Boro #EFL #bbmzansi #Oscars #Oscars2024 #Chelsea #CFC #Onana #CarabaoCup #eyeloveyou #OTDirecto23E #EFLCUP #mudryk #Algeria #AFCON2023 #AFCON pic.twitter.com/fpLsUDAzYK— OLUWASEUN (@AkinsowonSeun7) January 23, 2024 The Desert Foxes were last defeated by Cameroon in March 2022 and tonight they embarrassed themselves with a defeat from minors Mauritania, who not only scored, but had a couple of good chanced to finish the game comfortably. Algeria played like against Angola – dominant and with initiative but failed to even score or use some of their chances. Without passion, without that much needed ruthless finish…they are out deservedly. After unexpected draw against Algeria in the first game, Angola won against Mauritania and tonight added another three points, this time against Burkina Faso, but both teams are already through to the next phase. AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGERound 3TuesdayGuinea 0 Senegal 2 /Seck 61, Ndiaye 90/Gambia 2 Cameroon 3 /Jallow 72, E. Colley 85 – Toko Ekambi 56, Gomez 87-og, Wooh 90+1/Mauritania – Algeria 1-0 (1-0)/Yali 37/Angola – Burkina Faso 2-0 (1-0)/Mabululu 36, Zini 90+2/Wednesday20.00: (7.00) Namibia (3.60) Mali (1.58)20.00: (3.40) S.Africa (3.10) Tunisia (2.30)23.00: (6.50) Zambia (3.80) Morocco (1.58)23.00: (6.00) Tanzania (3.70) Dr Congo (1.62)***odds are subject to change
