Ça commence mal . . . – Le Jeune Indépendant

Unexpected disillusionment: the national team concedes its first failure in the group stage of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, after being defeated (1-2), on the 3rd day, against a very enterprising and deserving Guinean team largely his victory.

The World Cup qualifying campaign which had started in a promising way for the national team, with two consecutive victories under the era of the former coach, Djamel Belmadi, augured a favorable outcome. First, the Fennecs triumphed over Somalia with a score of 3-1 in Algiers, before winning (2-0) against Mozambique, on the road.

However, this winning streak has just come to an end during the very first outing under the leadership of new coach Vladimir Petković who really falls from a very high point. The Algerians therefore suffered their first setback at home against “Syli National” (1-2). A Guinea which had until then displayed a mixed performance, a 2-1 victory against Uganda and a 1-0 defeat against Botswana.

The match against Guinea was marked by a particularly tight first half where both teams struggled to create chances, and the game was disrupted by numerous technical faults and a blatant lack of dynamism and creativity which will prevent the “Greens” to truly threaten the Guinean defense. However, from the start of the second half, the pace of the match will accelerate considerably, the game becoming more engaged.

But despite this renewed energy and a desire to take the match in hand, the former 2019 African champions will concede the first goal of the match by Morlaye Sylla in the 51st minute. The Algerian reaction will be rapid with an offensive brilliantly led by Saïd Benrahma which resulted in an own goal from Guinean defender Yasser Baldé sending the ball into his own net in the 52nd minute, the leather being returned by the crossbar after a conclusive face-to-face against the goalkeeper followed by a nice lob. However, the Fennecs were again surprised by going down for a second time about ten minutes later, when Aguibou Camara doubled the lead in the 63rd minute and gave his team the lead again.

This is the seventh goal conceded by Algeria in just three matches since the start of the Petković era… Brahimi and his teammates, who will run behind the equalizer which will not come, will ultimately fail to catch up and concede their first defeat under the new technical management, against a Guinean team which had dominated the debates technically and tactically. From start to finish.

This poor performance at home marks a halt in the Algerian adventure and taints the results of a selection whose primary objective is to make their way into the CdM with a first directly qualifying place. As a reminder, Algeria now shares the lead in Group H with Guinea, but for the moment retains first place, mathematically, thanks to a better goal difference, while waiting for the other meetings in the group.

In their next match, in four days, Mandi & Co will travel to Kampala to face Uganda (next Monday, at 5:00 p.m.), in a meeting that promises to be perilous given the difficult conditions that await them. Let’s hope that they will manage to reorganize and return to victory, even if the challenge promises to be difficult. That said, and without being pessimistic, Petkovic’s reign is off to a bad start. Very bad even.