Algeria crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage after failing to win a single game in Gabon.<\/p>\n
They were held to a 2-2 draw by Group B winners Senegal in a match they had to win to have any chance of avoiding an embarrassing early exit.<\/p>\n
Islam Slimani scored both their goals, a two-yard volley and a scuffed effort that wrong-footed Algeria’s goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
But Senegal twice equalised, Papakouly Diop and then Moussa Sow both firing in efforts from the edge of the area.<\/p>\n
Algeria went into the tournament as one of the favourites for the trophy but leave with their reputation damaged by three underwhelming performances.<\/p>\n
After being held to a shock draw by Zimbabwe in their opener and then beaten by neighbours Tunisia, who booked their quarter-finals with a 4-2 win over Zimbabwe on Monday, Algeria have had a tournament to forget.<\/p>\n
Their misery was compounded at the last by the fact they were held by Senegal’s second-string side, which featured 10 changes from their last game.<\/p>\n
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse had taken the opportunity to rest his first-choice players given the Teranga Lions had already won the group ahead of their final fixture.<\/p>\n
And Cisse will be pleased by the resilience of his reserves who fought back to hold their own against a full-strength Algeria and ensure Senegal ended the group stage unbeaten.<\/p>\n
Algeria might have signed off with a win but Slimani missed a chance to grab his hat-trick and a modicum of consolation when he shot wide when clean though.<\/p>\n
Senegal will play Cameroon in the quarter-finals on Saturday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Algeria crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage after failing to win a single game in Gabon. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Group B winners Senegal in a match they had to win to have any chance of avoiding an embarrassing early exit. Islam Slimani scored both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[2497,3337,3],"yoast_head":"\n