After an impressive performance by the Algerian national team against Senegal, the Desert Warriors secured their qualification for the next stage leaving the second and third position of the group open for the final round between Senegal and Kenya.
Algeria was able to win their second game in the group stage keeping a clean sheet in both matches. In the first half, Algeria had few scoring chances and forced a nil nil draw. In the second half, Esperance de Tunisia international winger Youcef Belaïli scored his first goal as he received a neat assist for his teammate midfielder Sofiane Feghouli.
Ahram online spoke to both players post match. “Definitely this win gives us more confidence in the tournament, I hope we keep going on the same track till the end. Also, I’d like to thank our fans for their support,” Belaïli said.
“We prepared very well for this game, the technical did very good work, they prepared us mentally and technically. Thanks to all the players for their performance today,” Feghouli told Ahram Online.
Algeria's extraordinary defensive performance led them to keep two clean sheets.
Ahram Online asked Algeria’s left back Rami Ben-Sabini about this. “This performance belong to all the players not only the defenders. The forward players helped us a lot in this as they kept on pressuring Senegal’s players all the time,” Ben-Sabini answered.
Manchester City’s winger Riyad Mahrez expressed to Ahram Online how it feels to beat one of the favorite teams to bag the African cup of nations at the end. “We beat a very good team, it was a difficult game. They were good in the first half, but we managed to score in the second half and secure our second three points.”
"It is not difficult to motivate my group. They are fantastic players and they really want to do something great in this African cup,” Algerian Coach, Djamel Belmadi told Ahram Online post game.
Despite losing against Algeria, Senegal is still a solid contender to win the competition. It was obvious that the absence of Idrisa Gueye “Gana” and Ismail Saar against Algeria affected the team, however Kalido Koulibaly denied that when he was asked by Ahram Online.
“I don’t think the absence of one player or two could affect a team like Senegal. We have 23 good players, however I think we still need to improve and win our next game,” Koulibaly told Ahram online.
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