In their opening match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Algeria eased to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Sudan with the help of captain Riyad Mahrez in each half.
After just 82 seconds, Mahrez was given the opening match by the Algerian fans, who made up the majority of the 16, 115-person crowd at Rabat’s Moulay El Hassan Stadium.
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The former Manchester City winger, who is currently with Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia, scored Algeria’s second goal just after the hour mark, and Ibrahim Maza put the best possible finishing touches on the night of the match.
Zinedine Zidane, a legend of France and his family from Algeria, and his son Luca, a star for the Desert Foxes, were among the spectators in the Moroccan capital.
Algerian supporters were cheered loudly for his performance on big screens in the ground, which showed how impressive their team was.
Algeria broke the deadlock against the group outsiders despite being eliminated in the first round without winning at either of the previous two AFCON competitions.
When Hicham Boudaoui’s back-heel from Mohamed Amoura crossed the penalty box to tee up Mahrez, the match was hardly more than a minute old. Before entering, he took a second.
Then, Zidane did well to save Algeria from Yaser Awad Boshara, who was by far the better side.
Six minutes before the break, Salaheldin Adil was sent off for a second booking for slicing down Rayan Ait-Nouri, severely reducing Sudan’s chances of regaining their composure.
Ramy Bensebaini’s goal was later disallowed for offside, but Mahrez equaled 2-0 with a lovely outside-of-the-boot assist from Amoura on 61 minutes.
Mahrez has eight goals in the tournament now that he has won it for the sixth time. Late in the game, the Algerian fans ovated him.
With five minutes left, substitute Maza of Bayer Leverkusen scored Algeria’s 100th AFCON goal and made it 3-0. Maza finished from Baghdad Bounedjah’s knockdown.
Since winning the Cup of Nations in 1970, Sudan has only won once in 17 of its matches.
Equatorial Guinea and Burkinabe in the late AFCON match.
In the opening Group E game of the day, Burkinabe defeated Equatorial Guinea 2-1 thanks to two goals in stoppage time.
Equatorial Guinea opened the scoring with a surprise lead in the 85th minute through substitute Marvin Anieboh, who had a man sent off early in the second half, and looked poised to eke out yet another surprise victory in the Cup of Nations.
However, Burkinabe came back late in stoppage time, scoring Georgi Minoungou, before Edmond Tapsoba, the team’s star, scored the winning goal with the final try of the game.
Even after Equatorial Guinea was reduced to 10 men when Basilio Ndiong caught Traore on his toe with a dangerous tackle five minutes into the second half, Burkinabe looked the stronger of the two teams.
Burkinabe had a number of chances at Stade Mohammed V thanks to the team’s numerical advantage, and Lassina Traore, who had a long injury layoff, did have the ball in the net with a first touch from substitute Lassina Traore. However, his 71st-minute effort was declared unfavorable.
Equatorial Guinea then threatened another of their signature outbursts with Anieboh’s stunning header with five minutes left.
Equatorial Guinea, the second-smallest nation at the tournament behind Morocco, did a fantastic job at the final AFCON finals in the Ivory Coast, defeating the hosts 4-0 in the group stage to finish top of their group before falling to Guinea in the last 16.
With eight more minutes of added time remaining, Burkinabe was on the verge of another upset triumph.
Tapsoba, a Bayer Leverkusen defender, was instrumental in turning the game around when he passed Ouattara, who was felled in the box, but Minoungou tucked the loose ball away from a tight angle.
Source: Aljazeera
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