As Angola and Mauritania faced off this evening in the second Group D clash of the day — Algeria and Burkina Faso had neutralized each other earlier with a thrilling 2-2 — both teams came with the intention of securing points that would position them for qualification.
Angola’s Gelson Dala opened the scoring for his team netting in the 30th minute. In the 43rd minute, however, Mauritania’s Sidi Bouna Amar scored a much-needed equalizer for the Mauritanian side.
Yet the joy of the Mauritanians was short-lived as Dala scored his second goal of the game to restore Angola’s lead. Yet again, just three minutes after the Angolan second goal, Aboubakary Koita netted in the 53rd minute to equalize for Mauritania.
Led by coach Amir Abdou, Mauritania had faced an unfortunate setback in their opening game against Burkina Faso, losing 1-0 to the West African team.
Angola, on the other hand, had demonstrated resilience and occasional industriousness as they held the highly regarded Algerian Fennecs to a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
As such, this evening’s game was for both teams an occasion for securing a first victory to be in a good position for the next round. Meanwhile, Angola has enjoyed a seven-match unbeaten run, having lost only one of those games.
In the end, Angola’s triumph prevailed and is no surprisingly top of the group with 4 points, ahead of a tie-breaker third game against Burkina Faso, who are group co-leaders with 4 points.
This means, that whatever happens in the two-leaders’ clash on January 23, they could both hope of featuring in the round of 16 should they both avoid a heavy defeat.
Meanwhile, Djamel Belmadi’s third-placed and underwhelming — though talented and still promising — Algeria will have a tough assignment against a Mauritanian side looking for its first AFCON win.
