Algeria scored three goals in the first half to help the Fennec Foxes ease to a 4-0 victory over minnows Djibouti in FIFA World Cup qualifying, making it five wins from five matches for the defending Africa Cup of Nations champions. Youcef Belaïli, Saïd Benrahma, Sofiane Feghouli and Islam Slimani all tallied for Algeria in a match where they faced little resistance from a heavily overmatched Djiboutian side. Algeria’s attention now turns to the final second stage matchup, where they will host Burkina Faso with any result other than a loss seeing them through to the final round.
Despite being dominated in all WCQ fixtures, Djibouti continued a trend of starting out relatively well and being unafraid of their opposition. The Shormen of the Red Sea held off Algeria for nearly the first half hour of the match before their resistance crumbled. In the 26th minute, it was Belaïli who attempted to run onto an aerial ball into the Djiboutian penalty area before being fouled for a penalty kick despite the infraction appearing to be committed outside the area. Belaïli’s spot kick was weak and well saved, but the Qatari-based attacker came back a minute later and cut inside from the left flank to finish with his right foot past keeper Innocent Hankuye.
In the 40th minute, Djibouti turned the ball over outside their penalty area and the ball fell to Benrahma, who delivered a shot from twenty yards out past Hankuye for his first goal for Algeria. A couple of minutes later, veteran playmaker Sofiane Feghouli got on the scoresheet after receiving a pass from Benrahma and using an excellent first touch to get around a defender before finishing past Hankuye.
After the halftime break, Algeria relaxed and did not push too furiously to replicate the 8-0 thrashing they gave Djibouti when the teams faced off earlier in the campaign. Djibouti did well to hold out and maintain resistance until late on when Algeria found a fourth goal. In the 87th minute it was all-time leading scorer Islam Slimani who tallied his 38th international goal after Benrahma’s shot was saved into the air, where Slimani headed in the rebound from close range.
Highlights of the match are in the link below.
