In a stunning turn of events at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, Mauritania has caused a major upset by eliminating the 2019 champions Algeria from the tournament with a 1-0 victory.
The match was held at the Stade de la Paix on Tuesday and was marked by a historic win for Mauritania, who had never before led in any of their previous eight matches at the continental finals, let alone won a game.
The winning goal was scored by Yali Dellahi in the first half and proved to be enough to send Algeria packing, marking their second successive early exit from the tournament.
The loss comes as a major disappointment for coach Djamel Belmadi and his team, who also failed to advance past the group stage in 2021.
In the Group D standings, Angola took the top spot with seven points from three games, followed by Burkina Faso with four points, whom they beat 2-0.
With three points, Mauritania secured a place among the four best third-placed teams and will advance to the knockout stage. Algeria, with only two points, finished fourth in the group.
Algeria, who lifted the trophy in Egypt in 2019, appear to be a shadow of their former selves.
Against Mauritania, they dropped captain Riyad Mahrez to the bench but brought him on at halftime in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the game.
Unfortunately, this did not prove to be fruitful for the team.
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Mauritania took the lead in the 37th minute thanks to a poor clearance from Algeria defender Mohamed Amine Tougai, which fell to Dellahi in the box.
His shot beat goalkeeper Anthony Mandrea and crept in off the post, putting Mauritania ahead.
The scoreline could have been 2-0 when Aboubakary Koita went on a thrilling run in the second half, creating space for a shot.
However, his attempt was wild and failed to find the target, wasting what could have been one of the goals of the tournament.
Mauritania keeper Babacar Niasse then produced a superb save to keep out Hicham Boudaoui’s bullet header before he managed an even better reflex stop to deny Aissa Mandi from close range.
As Algeria pushed forward in search of an equalizer, they left gaps at the back, and substitute Pape Ibnou Ba could have added a second for Mauritania late on, but somehow missed the target from close range.
In the end, Mauritania had to survive 11 tense minutes of added time to secure their historic victory over Algeria.
It was a momentous occasion for the team and their fans, and a disappointing end to Algeria’s campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations.
