Algeria Seeks Redemption After 2021 Woes in Exhilarating AFCON Opener vs Angola

2024 is chocked full of international soccer tournaments—only a year after the Qatar World Cup, one of the best in recent memory. National teams from Africa, Asia, and Europe will fight to be crowned their region's best team.

While the European Championship, more widely known as the Euros, is played in the summer, the Asian Cup and African Cup of Nations (AFCON) are underway.

Today, one of the favorites to lift the AFCON trophy played their first game against Angola. The Algerian national team "Les Fennecs" (the desert foxes) have only claimed victory twice at AFCON, once in 1990 and then again in 2019, where Al-Ahli winger Riyad Mahrez led his team to victory in a tense 1-0 victory over Senegal the 2021 AFCON champions.

During the 2021 AFCON, the champion's curse hit Algeria hard, and they were sent home during the group stage after a dismal performance had them at the bottom of their group at one point.

Well, if today's game against Angola at the Stade de la Paix in the host nation of Cote d'Ivoire was the first step toward redemption. The road ahead is sure to be challenging.

The starting XI has the usual players like Mahrez as the captain, AL-Sadd SC forward Baghdad Bounedjah as the striker, and MC Alger midfielder Youcef Belaïli in the midfield.

This time around, Algeria has some fresh new talent to help make it to the final, such as Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Rayan Aït-Nouri, West Ham Winger Mohamed Saïd Benrahma, and AS Roma midfielder Houssem Aouar.

The game displayed how good Bounedjah can be and why he plays as the sole no.9, not as part of a strike partnership with Mahrez. The game's first goal came in the 18th minute when he managed to find the back of the net with one touch from a long ball coming from deep midfield.

Later in the game, Belaïli spotted the run of Bounedjah and played a long ball, which Bounedjah then scored a sublime bicycle kick after controlling the ball with his chest. It could have been one of the best AFCON goals if he had been able to stay onside when he made the run for the ball. The first half ended with Algeria in the lead.

In the second half, both teams struggled to find the back of the net. Angola got their first goal of the group stage after they won and then converted a penalty from a silly mistake by Stade Rennes midfielder Nabil Bentaleb when he tried to clear the ball but ended up kicking Mabululu, the Angolan forward, in the calf.

For the rest of the game, attempts by both teams took shots at the goal to bring home the three points, but the game ended in a draw even when free-kick specialist Mahrez had a chance in the game's dying moments to grab all three points with a free kick that looked more like a penalty with how close it was to the goal.

Both teams play their next game this weekend. Algeria plays Burkina Faso this Saturday at 9 a.m., and Angola plays Mauritania this Saturday as well at noon.

---

EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS: 

Order your favorite whiskey or spirit for the big game right to your doorstep and use code STADIUMRANT10 for a 10% discount at Caskers

Use code STADIUMRANT20 for a 20% discount at Bulletproof Coffee, SwingJuice and Performix. 

If you love to shotgun beers, use code STADIUMRANT10 at Wild Man Drinking Company.

MORE FROM STADIUM RANT:

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here.

Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our Youtube channel and subscribe!

Give our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok a follow for more great content!