Algeria crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat against Mauritania at the Stade de Bouaké in Bouaké.

Back centre There was a shock when Yali Dellahi scored the game-winning goal late in the first half.

Algeria, who won the tournament in 2019, will be out of the tournament at the group stage for the second year in a row because they lost.

They come in last place in Group D, while Mauritania will definitely move on as one of the best third-place teams.

Cape Verde, who came out of nowhere to win Group B, will play Mauritania in the round of 16 on Monday (17:00 GMT) at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan.

Algeria and Ghana, who were both former champions, were both eliminated. The Black Stars, who only had two points, could not be one of the top four third-placed teams because of other results on Tuesday.

The Lions of Chinguetti had to deal with late pressure and more than 11 minutes of extra time as Algeria tried to score a goal that would have tied the game and sent Algeria through instead of Mauritania.

The underdogs deserve their win, though, because it put them in the same round as second-placed Burkina Faso and first-placed Angola. Angola beat Burkinabe 2-0 to win the group.

Algeria’s first two group games were drawn in Ivory Coast. They knew that another draw at the Stade de la Paix would ensure their qualification because a point would put them in the same group as the top four teams in third place.

Their opponents, on the other hand, needed to win badly because they had lost their first two games. This was clear throughout the game, as Mauritania played with much more purpose and threat.

They had to get through a tense first half-hour when Algeria’s Houssem Aouar volleyed a good chance wide, but after that, they were too strong for the North Africans.

Anthony Mandrea stopped Souleymane Anne’s first chance for Mauritania, but Algeria failed to clear the corner that followed, and Dellahi took advantage to make the underdogs go crazy.

They had plenty of chances to make their lead bigger in the second half, but they missed them all while Algeria was being pushed around a lot on the counter.

It looked like it would be easy for Aboubakary Koita to score after a great solo run, but he shot high. Aboubakar Kamara was also well stopped by Mandrea, and Pape Ibnou Ba hit the post from close range.

Algeria, on the other hand, didn’t have the smarts to punish Mauritania for those missed chances. However, adding Riyad Mahrez at halftime after boss Djamel Belmadi dropped him was a creative move.

The winger who used to play for Manchester City set up their best chances. His crosses led to headers from Hicham Boudaoui and volleys from Aissa Mandi, but Babacar Niasse made great saves on both.

The Mauritania goalkeeper made one more important save to stop Mandi during the tense eleven minutes of extra time. When the final whistle blew, the northwestern Africans were celebrating. They had lost six of their previous eight Afcon finals games and tied two.

Their win was another big one for coach Amir Amdou. He was in charge of Comoros when the islanders made it to the round of 16 at the 2021 finals, but lost to hosts Cameroon.

In order to make it to the 2023 finals, Algeria had the best record of any team. However, several of their players left the field in tears, and they did not win a single game in the two tournaments since winning the title four years ago.

Photo by Djaffar Ladjal/BackpagePix