November 12, (THEWILL) – Algeria thrashed Djibouti 4-0 in their penultimate group encounter on Friday to come within a point of qualifying for the play-off round of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Les Fennecs now lead Group A with 13 points, two ahead of Burkina Faso, who dropped two points after a 1-1 home draw with Niger.
Algeria was motivated to finish qualification for the next round in Cairo, the same city where they won the African title in 2019.
Youcef Bellaili, Said Benrahma, and Soufiane Feghouli scored the three goals in the first half to get them rolling.
Bellaili’s goal came in the 29th minute, barely a minute after he had missed a penalty. The Baghdad Bounedjah midfielder sprinted onto a flicked ball before firing past the keeper inside the box.
They did not score again until the 40th minute, when Bounedjah won the ball on the edge of the box and sent Benrahma through. The forward hit the back of the net with a low shot.
They made it 3-0 two minutes later when Feghouli scored with a thunderous strike that the Djibouti goalkeeper could not hold.
The score was 3-0 until the 86th minute when Slimani headed home after the keeper had spilled Benrahma’s powerful drive to win resoundingly for Algeria.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
