Nigeria against Equatorial Guinea, Egypt against Mozambique, Ghana against Cape Verde, Cameroon against Guinea and the list of favorites who stumbled against weaker opposition continued in the first round of AFCON games. First it was Cameroon in the earlier game today and then Algeria continued the unfortunate streak with a weak 1-1 against Angola. If we had to describe this game in short it would be: too much skill, too little use out of it. With players like Mahrez, Bennacer and Belaili, Algeria had huge advantage in terms of technical superiority, but failed to use it and earn three points at the start of the tournament.GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!Baghdad Bounedjah with the opening goal for Algeria. What a finish 🔥Algeria 1-0 Angola#AFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/h7Oa7RamZm— Danish (@kohkun654) January 15, 2024 Algeria was superior in all phases of the game, apart from scoring goals. They had 66% of possession and 16 total shots, they scored the first goal already in the 18th minute and it all looked good, but nothing happened afterwards. The Desert Foxes wandered around, showed their technical skills but only had three shots on target, out of which one came in the 97th minute. As the game went on, Angola, who showed absolutely nothing, moved forward a bit and started to put crosses into Algeria’s penalty area. After one of those crosses, Bentaleb completely missed the ball and hit a Mabululu in the leg, provoking an unnecessary penalty. Completely rookie move by the player who was voted in the best 11 of Ligue 1 by L’Equipe. Mabululu was precise from the penalty spot and that was Angola’s only shot on target in the whole match, but it was enough. The only chance Algeria created after that came after half an hour, when Mahrez took a free kick in the 97th minute, but his shot was saved by Neblu.FT!🇩🇿 Algeria 1-1 Angola 🇦🇴🎥 Mabululu Goal Highlights #ALGANG #AFCON2023 #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023#Shamelsports pic.twitter.com/M9J0yECMEQ— #AFCON2024 🇸🇱 SHAMEL SPORTS 🇸🇱🇸🇱 (@ahmedlashamel) January 15, 2024 AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGESaturday Ivory Coast – Guinea B. 2-0 (1-0)/Fofana 4, Krasso 58/SundayNigeria – Equatorial Guinea 1-1 (1-1)/Osimhen 38 – Salvador 36/Egypt – Mozambique 2-2 (1-0)/Mohamed 2, Salah 90+7 pen – Witi 55, Bauque 58/Ghana – Cape Verde 1-2 (0-1)/Djiku 56 – Monteiro 17, Rodrigues 90+2/MondaySenegal 3-0 Gambia (1-0)/Gueye 4, Camara 52, 86/Cameroon 1-1 Guinea (0-1)/Magri 51-Bayo 10/Algeria – Angola 1-1 (1-0)/Boundedjah 18 – Mabululu (p) 68/Tuesday 17.00: (1.75) Burkina Faso (3.60) Mauritania (5.70)20.00: (1.40) Tunisia (4.60) Namibia (10.5)23.00: (2.15) Mali (3.25) S.Africa (3.90)Wednesday 20.00: (1.30) Morocco (5.80) Tanzania (12.0)23.00: (2.40) Dr Congo (3.20) Zambia (3.40)***odds are subject to change***
