Abidjan (Sundiata Post) – Angolan striker, Cristovao Paciencia rescued a vital point for his side.
This was after Paciencia converted from the spot to hold Algeria to a 1-1 stalemate at Bouake’s Stade De La Paix.
This was in their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 Group C opener against the former champions in Cote d’Ivoire on Monday.
The 2019 champions came into the tie as favourites on paper and unsurprisingly pinned their opponents into their own half from the opening whistle.
Fares Chaibi was the first to ask questions of Adilson Cipriano in as early as the 6th minute.
This was after doing well to connect with a Youcef Belaili cross only for his volleyed effort to go narrowly wide.
Belaili, who was a constant threat to the Angolan defense almost opened the scoring in the eighth minute.
This was after doing well to cut in from the left to unleash a powerful strike that was fisted away by Cipriano.
The Desert Foxes were eventually rewarded for their relentless attacks.
A lobbed ball from the back went over Kialonda Gaspar for 2019 title hero, Baghdad Bounedjah to comfortably slot it into the bottom left corner.
Interestingly Bounedjah scored Algeria’s opening goal in their first match of the 2019 edition against Kenya, where they went on to win the title.
Coming back from the recess, Angola’s game plan was to get balls into the danger area – a tactic that paid dividends in the 68th minute.
Substitute Cristovao Paciencia converted from the spot kick after he was fouled in the box by Nabil Bentaleb.
The evenly contested encounter concluded with both sides sharing the spoils in front of a highly vocal Stade De La Paix crowd.
Next for Algeria will be a clash against Burkina Faso on Saturday, while Angola face Mauritania.