At 3 o'clock Beijing time on January 17, the third round of the African Cup of Nations Group E, Algeria played against Equatorial Guinea. Esteban scored the only goal of the game, Bellelli volley was blown away, and finally Equatorial Guinea beat the opponent 1-0 to rush to the second place in the group, just one more point to ensure the qualification. Algeria was a hot stove, continuously breaking out of the cold, only 1 point after 2 rounds, ranking at the bottom of the group.
In the 11th minute, Algeria's free-kick from the front was met by a volley from the side of the goal by Bencebini.
In the 22nd minute, Bensebani's cross was saved by Mahrez's header at the back post, and then Buneja scored to make it 1-0!
But Mahrez was offside before the goal, so Buneja's goal was also invalidated. In the 69th minute, Bellelli scored with a free-kick and went out of bounds again, with Algeria unable to break the goal.
In the 70th minute, Josette Miranda's corner kick was crossed and Estevan scored from the back post, and Equatorial Guinea broke the deadlock.
In the 83rd minute, Mahrez picked out a pass and Boneja's right-footed volley from the edge of the penalty area broke the goal, 1-1! However, Buneja was offside again, with Algeria blown off two goals in a single game.
After 5 minutes of stoppage time, Equatorial Guinea laughed 1-0 to the end as they threw the defending champions to the ground! The final whistle sounded, and the players of Equatorial Guinea could not hide their excitement and rushed directly into the stadium to revel. After this battle, Equatorial Guinea rushed to the second position of the group, and the next round only needed to draw a draw to ensure the qualification.
Equatorial Guinea is a small West African country with an area of just over 28,000 square kilometers and a population of just over 1.4 million. According to fifa rankings, Equatorial Guinea ranks 114th in the world, with a team worth only 5 million euros. But on this night, Equatorial Guinea made a magnificent counterattack, ending the embarrassment of not being able to win the Africa Cup of Nations for a full 10 years.
In contrast, Algeria is a luxury, with two Premier League stars, Mahrez and Benrahma, with an overall value of 180 million. Moreover, Algeria is also the defending champion, second only to Senegal in the list of odds to win the championship.
Who would have thought that Algeria would be upset by the two fish-belly teams of Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea in a row, only 1 point after 2 rounds, with 0 goals, ranking first from the bottom in Group E, and even qualifying is a problem.
It is worth mentioning that Algeria is unbeaten in 9 consecutive African Cup of Nations and 35 consecutive A-class matches, failing to break Italy's world record of 37 consecutive unbeaten matches.