ALGERIA – CAMEROON FOOTBALL. At the end of an incredible end to the match in this play-off return from the 2022 World Cup on Tuesday March 29, the Fennecs were deprived of the next World Cup by Indomitable Lions who won in the last seconds of extra time (2- 1).
The reigning African champions will not be in Qatar to compete in the next World Cup. And yet, this ticket for the next World Cup seemed to be acquired when Ahmed Touba finally cheated on an almost impassable André Onana on Tuesday, March 29. The Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper has long disgusted the Algerian players who have looked for the fault and who have finally found it in an extension with an incredible outcome. But before, there had been cruel regulation time for the Fennecs. Cruel because the men of Djamel Belmadi have returned to this Algeria – Cameroon. Confident after their success in the first leg in Cameroon (1-0), Riyad Mahrez and his teammates directly put forward their intentions, those of attacking. But they were not rewarded. After a few harmless attempts on Onana’s cages, it’s the opposing goalkeeper Raïs Mbolhi who will stand out in the worst possible way. Indeed, the Algeria goalkeeper accidentally hit his teammate Aissa Mandi following a corner and released the ball, giving former Parisian Choupo-Moting the opportunity to come and put his selection back up to the Fennecs on the all of the two confrontations (22nd). Then follows an Algerian domination over almost the entire game. Onana then goes into wall mode and lets nothing pass. Mbolhi also imitates him in the 69th minute with an exceptional double parry. But little by little, the Algerian goalkeeper leaves the star to that of Cameroon. André Onana disgusts Mahrez, Bennacer or even Slimani with successive parades. And even when he was beaten by that header from Slimani in the 98th minute, the VAR intervened and canceled the goal for a handball from the former Monegasque. The Algerian goal will only come in the second period of extra time (118th) through Ahmed Touba who capsized the boiling Mustapha-Tchaker stadium in Blida but for only a few minutes. Indeed, Algeria thought they could hold their ticket thanks to this goal but it was without counting on the Lyonnais Karl Toko-Ekambi who, following a subtle deviation from Ngadeu, comes to punish the Fennecs for a lack of lucidity marking in the last seconds of the meeting (120th + 4). The Blida stadium had never seen a defeat for Algeria. This Tuesday, March 29, the supporters present in the enclosure therefore experienced the first and certainly the worst of the selection of Djamel Belmadi who will be deprived of the 2022 World Cup in favor of the Cameroonians of Rigobert Song.
At the end of the meeting, Djamel Belmadi did not hide his disappointment, but also pointed the finger at the arbitration. “I say it today without fear: these referees do not respect our country, dropped the North African coach. They come here, see our work and do not respect us (…) In the past two years, I have not seen only one referee who is not aggressive when you come and talk to him. I am not looking for excuses, these are facts. Congratulations to Cameroon, but I think it is not the most deserving team that has qualified, said Belmadi. We created very clear situations. Them very few, except on crosses. We had many situations without concretizing them. We had several times the possibility of scoring “.