2022 African Nations Championship leading scorer Aymen Mahious kept his composure from the penalty spot to deliver a late winner for hosts Algeria in their 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Ivory Coast on Friday. The USM Alger player scored his third goal of the competition and second penalty kick conversion to break Ivorian hearts after the Video Assistant Referee intervened to call a foul in second half stoppage time. Algeria advance to the semifinals where they will play the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Ghana and Niger.
The match got off to an exciting start with chances arriving early for both teams. Algeria midfielder Zakaria Draoui nearly put the hosts into the lead in the 7th minute but his bouncing header struck the post and went wide. A few minutes later the Ivorians should have opened the scoring when Salifou Diarrassouba’s free kick snuck through the crowd to Aziz Siahoune but the center back got under his finish and sent the ball off target from close range. A minute later Algeria was denied by an excellent save from Elephants goalkeeper Charles Bolly before Souleymane Coulibaly’s panicked clearance struck the post and rebounded away from danger.
Everything changed in the 20th minute when a back pass towards Algeria keeper Alexis Guendouz was poorly hit and the ball hit Guendouz’s hand outside the penalty area as he slid to make a challenge. Initially ruled a yellow card, the VAR determined Guendouz’s infraction was worth a straight red card much to the shot stopper’s dismay. Fifteen minutes later the match was back on even terms when Algeria right back Mokhtar Belkhiter was caught in the groin by a high challenge from Kousassi Attohoula Yao, who was given a red card following another VAR review.
From then on it was a tactical battle between the teams and Algeria could not find a way through a well organized Ivorian defense. Coulibaly and Siahoune’s dominance in the air kept out Algeria’s wide attacks with only a couple of decent looks on goal for the Fennecs until the match-changing moment. In the third minute of stoppage time a quick combination on the left wing led to Mahious being taken down by Siahoune as he attempted to meet a low cross from Youssef Laouafi and VAR determined a foul was committed. Mahious calmly used a stutter step before rolling his spot kick past Bolly for the match winner.
Highlights from Friday’s first quarterfinal are below.
