December 4, 2021 Algeria's Yacine Brahimi in action with Lebanon's Jihad Ayoub REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Doha: Second-half goals from Yacine Brahimi and Tayeb Meziani sealed Algeria’s spot in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Arab Cup with a hard-fought 2-0 win over a resilient Lebanon at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Both teams finished the game with 10 men with red cards to Algeria's Houssem Mrezigue and Lebanon's Kassem El Zein.
The Desert Foxes were favourites to win but faced stiff opposition from the Lebanese side, who lacked the cutting-edge in the attack. Lebanon had lost their opening Group D match by a lone goal to Egypt. At the same time, Algeria’s 4-0 win over Sudan ensures they go into their final group match against Egypt with qualification secured.
Both teams enjoyed significant support from the stands thanks to the large population of Lebanese and Algerians residing in Doha.
Algeria were on the attack from kickoff, and mercurial striker Baghdad Bounedjah almost broke the deadlock 15 minutes in. His scuffed shot was cleared off the line and eventually gathered by goalkeeper Mostafa Mathar after Mehdi Tahrat’s header bounced off the bar.
The Foxes again came close, this time with Yacine Brahimi, but his shot was palmed away by Matar.
The reigning African champions dominated play, but Palestine held firm thanks to the goalkeeper and some last-ditch defending led by Robert Melki as both teams headed into halftime level.
The second half began the same way as the first, with Algeria on top as Bounedjah glanced a header off target.
Lebanon slowly explored the spaces in the Algerian defence as the Foxes pressed for a winner but lacked the quality in the final third.
The pressure finally paid off for Algeria as Mohammed Belaili, a thorn in the Lebanese defence throughout the match, was brought down in the box by Hussein ElDor.
Al Rayyan playmaker Brahimi who is pushing for a recall to the national team, made no mistake from the spot, sending his effort straight down the middle with Matar diving the wrong way.
The goal seemed to spur Lebanon, and ElDor almost atoned for conceding the penalty, but the compact Algerian defense blocked the defender’s shot.
Algeria were reduced to 10-men with 13 minutes left as Houssem Mrezigue was shown a second yellow card. Despite the numerical advantage, Lebanon failed to capitalize and were soon down to 10-men themselves as Kassem El Zein was sent off for a second bookable offence for a silly foul on Belaili.
Bounedjah, almost anonymous all night, wasted an excellent opportunity to make it two, but the striker scuffed his attempted lob harmlessly wide with Matar at his mercy.
Substitute Tayeb Meziani broke Lebanese hearts in added time. Bounedjah played through the 25-year-old as Algeria broke on the counter and showed composure to slot home past Matar sealing the Foxes spot in the next round.
“The victory is very important, but the game was difficult like I said yesterday, and we knew that,” Algeria coach Madjid Bougherra said after the match.
“I think in the first half we put a lot of pressure, but in football when you don’t score, you put yourself in a difficult situation, and Lebanon created some of those in the second half. Big credit to this team. They put a lot of heart and gave us a lot of problems.”
Bougherra said it was important for the African champions to claim maximum points, though “there are many good things and some bad things that we need to work on, but in general, the players’ attitude was very good.”
On the final group game against Egypt, Bougherra said, “The derby game is big, and we know Egypt is doing well. The most important thing for both teams would be fitness. It’s tough to play every three days, so I hope the fitness levels will be good so we can have a good game.”
