The ongoing TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, has produced another major upset as holders, Algeria, has been dumped out of the competition after losing 3-1 to the Elephants of La Côte d’Ivoire this afternoon.
The Elephants produced a dominant performance in Douala to sink the reigning champions with goals from Franck Yannick Kessie, Ibrahim Sangare and Nicolas Pepe.
Cote d’Ivoire dominated possession with AC Milan midfielder Kessi, Jean Micheal Seri and young Ibrahima Sangare pulling the strings for Patrice Beaumelle’s side.
The Elephants left back, Chislain Konan, twice found space inside the Algerian box. Konan beat Algeria’s Atal on the right to play in Pepe whose first time effort missed the target on 7 minutes.
The Elephants continued to counter the Desert Foxes with their wide players giving them width as they pushed for the breakthrough.
Kessie broke the deadlock with a clinical strike after an exchange of passes with Pepe to beat Rais Mbolhi and give Cote d’Ivoire the lead on 22 minutes.
Djamel Belmadi’s side responded with chances of their own as they push for the equalizer. Bennacer had a shot flashed the Elephants goal while Belaili failed to connect to Atal’s inviting diagonal pass into the area.
Ibrahim Sangare doubled the lead for the Elephants with a thumping header past Mbolhi five minutes before the break. Cote d’Ivoire continued to dominate the second half and they found the third goal on 53 minutes through Pepe.
The winger drifted inside from the right to curled his left footed strike past Mbolhi to make it 3-0.
Captain Riyad Mahrez missed a penalty
Algeria wes awarded a penalty following a foul on Belaili on 57 minutes. Captain Riyad Mahrez struck the post as Cote d’Ivoire hang on to its three goal advantage.
Substitute Soufiane Bendebkab pulled a goal back for the Desert Foxes but it was too late for the 2019 African champions. The victory confirmed top spot for Cote d’Ivoire ahead of Equatorial Guinea who beat Sierra Leone 1-0 in Limbé to finish second. The Leone Stars finished third with two points and Algeria bottom with a point.
This was the fifth time Côte d’Ivoire and Algeria face-off in the Africa Cup of Nations since 2010, the most played fixture in that time alongside Ghana-Mali. Their last four encounters have produced 15 goals. Today’s game produced a total of four goals, sending the tally to 19 between the two sides in the last five encounters.
After this disappointing results, Algeria has failed to win all three group stage games at a single edition of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2017 (D1 L2). Coming into match day 3 at this year’s tournament, no side has attempted more shots than Algeria (32), but who could not find the net. This afternoon, Algeria had 14 shots with 4 on target and a goal.
Elsewhere, at 19:00 GMT, the last Group F matches will be played with The Gambia taking on Tunisia whilst Mali faces Mauritania in the West African derby.
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