Defending champions Algeria are in danger of an early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations after a 1-0 loss to outsiders from Equatorial Guinea in Douala on Sunday.
Esteban Obiang’s 70th-minute goal gave Equatorial Guinea the victory and broke Algeria’s 35-game unbeaten record.
The 2019 Cup of Nations winners could only draw 0-0 with Sierra Leone in their opening game in Cameroon and now need to beat Ivory Coast in their final Group E outing on Thursday to advance to the last 16.
The Ivorians, who were the last continental champions in 2015, were previously defeated 2–2 by Sierra Leone and the group remains open but Algeria is down on just one point.
“Oscar Wilde said that if you aim for the moon, you will land among the stars. We wanted to break the world record, but we didn’t succeed,” said Algerian coach Jamel Belmadi.
“Our unbeaten record is still with Italy, Argentina and Germany.
“Everyone was talking about it but now we need to focus on something else, go out and qualify.”
Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea, ranked 114th in the world and 28th in Africa, are now ready to reach the knockout stage for the third time.
The last two occasions came when they were hosting the tournament in 2012 and 2015, but this time in Douala with a crowd of around 12,000 fans supporting the ‘National Thunder’.
The Equestrian capital, Malabo, is a small jump over the Gulf of Guinea from the economic capital of Cameroon, on the island of Bioko.
Few of his fans could have guessed this result against the Algerian team captained by Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez and almost exactly the same that won the 2019 AFCON Finals against Senegal.
“We are very proud to have defeated the best team in Africa,” said Equatorial Guinea coach Juan Mica.
Algeria struggled to break through the opposition’s defence, while goals from both Baghdad Bounezah and the late Yousef Bellely were disallowed for offside in the first half.
The excellent Iban Edu Salvador came close at long range for Equatorial Guinea in the first half and also created a chance that Luis Nalvo could not finish immediately after the break.
They again came close to a breakaway in the middle of the second half, but it was from the corner after which their goal came – a delivery from the left was flicked to the back post, where the Spanish-born Obiang went on to celebrate. Tucked it in before running. with the crowd.
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