Riyad Mahrez and Algeria have failed in their African Cup of Nations Title defence after their 3-0 loss to Côte d’Ivoire which saw them finish last in Group E, in which they scored only one goal.
The Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire stamped all over the Desert Foxes in a commanding performance that made Algeria’s form coming into the tournament look like a very lengthy fluke. Before the start of the tournament, Mahrez and co had racked up 34 games without a defeat, just three short of Italy’s world record of 37.
Three games undefeated out of three in Group E would have seen them match the record and possibly surpass it in the coming rounds to etch an African team into FIFA world records. However, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone proved too much to handle for Algeria and they were only able to get one draw in the Group – against Sierra Leone who are also out of the tournament – to take their run to 35, and two losses to effectively end their run.
Franck Kessie and Ibrahim Sangare scored in the first half for the Elephants in Douala, while Nicholas Pepe added a third in the second half. Sebastien Haller scored a fourth but it was chalked off as the Elephants finished top of their group to face Mohammed Salah’s Egypt in the round of 16.
Cote d’Ivoire had already qualified to the next round but Algeria had the chance to continue their title defence with a win against Pepe and co. However, that never looked like a possibility as the game progressed.
Algeria is the fifth team to exit the AfCON tournament in the last six editions as the defending champions, however, they will go down in history as the worst title defenders in recent memory. They are also the 12th team to exit the competition in the first round as defending champions.
Equatorial Guinea through to the next round ahead of Algeria
Minnows Equatorial Guinea had a group stage to remember after beating Algeria in a game that many thought the Desert Foxes would find their form in. They finished the group in second place after defeating fellow minnows Sierra Leone – who also had a tournament to remember after holding Algeria to a famous 0-0 draw – by a lone goal.
Equatorial Guinea qualified for the tournament for the first time ever. This is their third participation in the continental showpiece, however, with the first two times being as hosts where they qualified automatically. However, they will look back on this tournament with pride, having handled themselves well in the qualifiers and now in the tournament proper.
They will be facing Mali in the round of 16 and will be looking forward to bettering their fourth-place finish from 2015.
