African Cup of Nations 2010 : Algeria 3-2 Ivory Coast (aet)... 1 2 3 VIVA L'ALGERIE!!!
My BF is algerian and like every algerian he spent the last few hours celebrating Algeria's qualification to Africa Cup semi-finals. I'm so happy for him and i decided to make a little picspam.
The days before the game : Algeria's players training
Algeria's team poses at the beginning of their African Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match against Ivory Coast, in Cabinda, Angola, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010.
Top row, from left: Hassen Yebda, Madjid Bougherra, Rafik Halliche, Faouzi Chaouchi (i love this guy! He was very brave and played despite his back injury. Also, he comes from a very poor background and his family's house was completely destroyed by The 2003 Boumerdès earthquake who caused the death of 2,226 people) Anthar Yahia, Abdelkader Ghezzal, bottom: Karim Matmour, Yazid Mansouri, Nadir Belhadj, Karim Ziani, Mourad Meghni.
Ivory Coast scored very quickly after only 4 minutes. At this point, the Algerian sports commentator and my bf were convinced that this game will be a nightmare for their team who only scored once in the last three games :(
The Algerians eventually began to settle as the game reached the 20-minute mark.
The pressure eventually told five minutes before half-time when Matmour forcing his way in between two defenders and finishing emphatically with a strike that took the upright before going in.
That brought up half-time and after a quiet restart, the pace dramatically picked up as the game approached the hour mark. Saadane's men continued to pile on the pressure, but their west African opponents were still a threat
One minute from the end and having just come on, substitute Kader Keita smashed in a 25-yard screamer that went in off the upright and looked to have won the game with just a minute to play. At this point, my bf was having some sort of a heart attack and stormed out of the appartment.
Enter stoppage time and the Algerians refused to give in. A sweeping cross from the left, along with sloppy defending from the Ivorian defence, allowed Bougherra in and the Rangers defender headed in powerfully. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! Shaking and crying and calling my bf to tell him the good news! He was just outside the door and he came back running!
Bouazza, introduced after the 90 minutes ended, was left unmarked at the far post and leapt high to nod in Ziani's cross from the left to put Algeria ahead for the first time.
Straight from the restart there were chances aplenty for the Algerians to kill off the game as Ivory Coast went for broke - Ghezzal mis-hitting the best of the chances in the form of a virtual tap-in that seemed almost impossible to miss.
Drogba failed to impose himself on the Algerian defence and missed a couple of clear chances. Kolo Touré, the Manchester City defender, had the ball in the net in the dying seconds but was flagged offside.
Algeria came from the brink of being knocked out to beat favourites Ivory Coast 3-2 after extra-time in a remarkable African Cup of Nations quarter-final in Cabinda, Angola.
Saddness in Ivory Coast
Euphoria among algerians all over the world
The Algerians will now play either the defending champions, Egypt, or Cameroon, who meet in Benguela today.
I prefer Cameroon (even though Eto'o has a huge ego and gets on my nerves every time he opens his mouth). Egypt is clearly the best team in what we've seen in this African Cup so far. The problem is that i don't think anyone can handle another confrontation between Algeria and Egypt. The two countries are still fighting over the last game and things got really ugly and a lot of hateful things were said for weeks all over the arab medias.
Source : Daylife, GettyImages, ESPN Soccernet.
Youtube Links :
First goal (Ivory Coast 1 - 0 Algeria )
Second goal (1-1)
Thrid goal (2-1) at 1:30 (it's the only video i could find for this goal)
Fourth goal (2 - 2)
Fifth goal (Ivory Coast 2 - 3 Algeria )
The end of the game
Songs made recently to support Algeria's football team :
L'Algérie Bladi SAKNA FI KALBI by Groupe Torino & Milano
Les Gladiateurs by Sinik ft Cheb Akil ft DJ Souhil