Algeria rested captain Riyad Mahrez but still put on a dominant display to beat Equatorial Guinea 3-1 in Rabat, becoming the second team after Nigeria to win all three group games at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
Five-time Premier League winner Mahrez was one of nine changes made by coach Vladimir Petkovic from the 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso, but his livewire replacement on the right flank, Anis Hadj Moussa, ran the Equatoguineans ragged with his trickery and direct approach, drawing rapturous approval from the thousands of Algeria fans in green and white who packed all four sides of this compact, modern stadium.
Moussa’s corner supplied centre-back Zineddine Belaid to nod in the opener before another cross from the Feyenoord man found the unmarked Ibrahim Maza ghosting into space to head his side’s third.
In between, Moussa’s team-mate on the opposite flank, Fares Chaibi, also exploited time and space behind a porous backline to fire high into the net after cutting inside.
Having lost their opening two games in Group E, the attitude and endeavour on display from Equatorial Guinea was not up to the required standard, particularly in the first half.
Captain and frontman Emilio Nsue was regularly forced to drop deep to gesticulate for his players to up their intensity, and the 36-year-old put all of his evident frustration into a powerful long-range strike which found the top corner in the 50th minute, providing the one moment of real quality from the National Thunder.
Petkovic, meanwhile, looks to have moulded a hardworking, slick unit, with squad players fighting to make an impression ahead of Les Fennecs’ last-16 tie against DR Congo back at this stadium on Tuesday, 6 January (16:00 GMT).
