Riyad Mahrez scored from a penalty kick midway through the first half, and Algeria’s goal post denied Burkina Faso a draw before the break. Coach Vladimir Petkovic’s team recovered from Joan Hajjam’s early injury to win 1-0 and qualify for the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations, which will be held in Morocco on Sunday.
Mohamed Amin Amoura also missed the opportunity to increase the score for Algeria from a one-on-one situation before the end of the first half, but the two-time African champion raised his score to 6 points at the top of Group E, 3 points ahead of Burkina Faso, runner-up in the 2013 edition.
The Sudanese national team, which won 1-0 over Equatorial Guinea earlier, is also in third place with three points, while the Equatorial Guinean national team is at the bottom of the standings without any point.
Opportunities and drama
Burkina Faso started the match promisingly and in the third minute demanded a penalty kick after Bertrand Traoré fell in the area, but the referee ordered play to continue.
Ammoura tried to penetrate Burkina Faso’s defenses from the left side, but he lost the ball under pressure in the fifth minute, and the match was stopped in the eighth minute after Algeria’s defender Hijam was injured and the medical staff came down to treat him.
After returning to the video assistant referee technology, the referee only issued a yellow card to Gustavo Sanjari, the Burkina Faso player, due to a rough intervention on Hajam.
Algeria made an emergency substitution in the 13th minute, with the injured Hijam leaving and Baghdad Bounedjah coming on.
Ibrahim Mazza, the Algerian player, shot a low ball from outside the area, but the goalkeeper blocked it in the 15th minute.
Riyad Mahrez put Algeria ahead in the 23rd minute with a penalty kick awarded by the referee after blocking Rayan Ait Nouri in the area.
In the 26th minute, Edmond Tapsoba, Burkina Faso’s player, shot a long-range ball that passed without threatening the goal, and two minutes later, Burkina Faso executed a free kick in the middle of the Algeria stadium, and Pierre Kabore received it with a shot that passed near the right post.
In the 36th minute, Ammoura shot a dangerous ball that went over the crossbar, while in the 41st minute, the Burkina Faso national team executed a free kick from the left-center of the Algeria stadium, which was dispersed by the defense.
In the 43rd minute, Traoré took a corner kick for Burkina Faso, which Kabore received with a header that bounced off the left post of the goal.
In stoppage time of the first half, goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of the legend Zinedine Zidane, blocked a header shot by Tapsoba from inside the area.
Ammoura wasted a dangerous opportunity to increase the score with a shot from a one-on-one position that was brilliantly blocked by the goalkeeper just before the break.
Fast start after the break
The start of the second half was fast, with Burkina Faso seeking to compensate and the Algerian national team wanting to kill the match, but the play was concentrated in the midfield without much danger.
The referee awarded a free kick to Burkina Faso on the outskirts of the Algeria penalty area in the 54th minute, but the defense ended the threat.
Mahrez left the field in the 60th minute and was replaced by Zinedine Belaid.
In the 66th minute, the Algerian national team almost scored the second goal through a dangerous counterattack led by Mazza, but his attempt went wide.
The same player returned to waste another opportunity three minutes later with a shot from inside the area that was brilliantly blocked by the goalkeeper.
Hicham Boudaoui sent a dangerous header for Algeria that passed near the right post in the 76th minute.
Ait Nouri also shot a low ball from inside the area, but it was blocked by goalkeeper Herve Kofi.
Jorge Minongo responded with a dangerous shot for Burkina Faso from the outskirts of the area, which went over the crossbar in the 80th minute.
In the 83rd minute, Lassina Traore shot a weak header that was blocked by goalkeeper Luca Zidane.
Zidane saved another header in stoppage time, while his father watched in the stands.
Reuters
