While all of Africa has its eyes glued to the clash between Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the round of 16 of CAN 2025, Claude Le Roy is delaying. The experienced French coach, who has played for Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana and Togo in particular during his immense career, still has a very informed view of African football. And this top match between the Fennecs and the Leopards particularly frustrates him, as he revealed to the independent Algerian media Le Lien this Monday.
“This Algeria – DRC match annoys me,” he confided during a quick interview given in the middle of the street in Rabat. “A team with 9 points faces another with 7 points, while certain teams with 7 points play against teams with 2 points,” analyzed the 77-year-old coach, who worked on the DR Congo bench between 2004 and 2006 then from 2011 to 2013.
“It’s all the inconsistency of CAF”
Indeed, the two nations, who challenge each other at the Stade Moulay El Hassan in Rabat this Tuesday (5 p.m.) were among the best teams in the group stage. But despite their three victories in the first round, Riyad Mahrez and his partners, first in group E, inherited second in group D with the DRC, while other group winners, like Morocco or Senegal for example, found themselves facing third places, much weaker on paper.
The two favorites of the competition were respectively opposed to Tanzania and Sudan in the round of 16, two opponents who were much more affordable than DR Congo.
“This is all the inconsistency of the CAF (Confederation of African Football)”, did not hesitate to point out Claude Le Roy, in reference to the format of the CAN with 24 teams, adopted in 2019 at the same time as the so-called “best third” rule. To reach the desired number of 16 teams in the round of 16, the four best third-placed teams from the six groups now join the final phase alongside the first six and six second-placed teams.
In its regulations, CAF does not give more details on how its final table was pre-established. For the current edition, it seems that the winners of the first four groups in alphabetical order (A, B, C, D) were automatically chosen to face the four best third-placed teams in the round of 16. Which is not Algeria’s business.
