it's finished fulltime Algeria 2 Equatorial Guinea nil and I got to say I'm buzzing with that I'm very pleased with that it's probably the best Algeria have played for a long time and it should have been more than two 2-0 absolutely flatters Equatorial Guinea and even at half time when it was nil nil I was telling people look we've played well we've been decent we've dominated they were saying n what are you talking about we dominated 2 nil flatters Equatorial Guinea why didn't we do that on Bloody Dua Lads in the afcon in 2021 in Cameroon when we had Equatorial Guinea if we done that who knows what would have happened but what a team we beaten they're no mugs they're a good side I know lost and Su up front they beat IV recos 4-0 in civo just a few months ago who went on to win the whole competition let's not pretend let's not downplay it we're quick to criticize and jump on the team when they lose we don't use the same energy when they are brilliant and win so 2-n probably the alarm Bells rang when we see that lineup mandrea kept his play in goal and is amandy started the game at right back with two guy benyan and Haim at left back so for the first time in the long time neither at Nori nor atal at left back or right back which is completely different hajin played left back he played very well of course that was Ben Saban's first game in a long time and that defense looked so much stronger I think he actually got the assists for the second goal as well Ben sabany and of course Mandy not with the Superstar legs of the Brazil World Cup when he was right back but did a job put a good shift in nullified equatorial guine attack and we've kept a clean sheet and you got to say baraki is not the one but when we play an Aon and you see even The Vibes of Baghdad bujan the way he was working hard pressing really putting a lot of pressure on a one the keeper we got a good vibe going on in Aon here and you start to think should we bring Mozambique in the World Cup game to Aon rather than baraki because clearly we're doing well here we even beat Guinea that we lost to in the World Cup in Oran a few months ago it's looking good Midfield Bassa are was always going to happen Anda are in front of them maybe a bit more attacking than usual but you could see with the team and the way they played it was more attacking than usual mahz right Bama left but it was Baghdad up front over guiry look Baghdad didn't score but he worked very hard he worked very hard the first off he was still diving around still wanted that V from the Aon every time he went down but he worked hard he put so much pressure on that aano the goalkeeper for Equatorial Guinea he kept trying to play out from the back he was awful he can't play out from the back he's the the uh the South African pford the way he was playing no the pressure buj was putting on him he made him launch the ball and hoof it for the rest of the game so obviously the alarm Bells rang when he saw the team also we didn't see the kit we know what the new Algeria kit is going to look like but because we've seen it in leaks I guess and not in official Adidas images we yet to see that new shirt on display and mahz coming back into the team as Captain now I thought we played well I thought Ben Rama played well apart from an open goal he missed at the end FB and Jack played well mandre probably had less than 10 touches I mean that speaks volumes of how much we limited eator Guinea and Sue had one shot in the first half Salvador had one shot I'm pretty sure the eatro manager said to his players look we don't rate mandrea hit it from distance it might go in and it very nearly did but mandrea was on guard he kept a clean sheet as well and second half we didn't really see eator guini threaten apart from Once when Zoran came on and gave the ball away and I don't need to speak about Zan cuz I have more than enough and you almost cost the game but the point is neria should have been more than one n up going into the 95th minute when gury doubled it way more MZ missed a penalty I think how many times has mahrez missed a pen I can think of more mahrez missed pens than scored ones I think of the shootout we won against codo he he didn't take one you think of the the game against Cameroon we lost as a heartbreak he wasn't on the pitch when has MZ scored he missed against Ivory Coast he missed against Zambia when has he scored a pen I just don't remember many even for Man City how many pens did he miss for Man City I don't understand it's not that the keeper saved it and it was a good pen it was what miles wide we were playing an AA and the pen landed in ales it was ridiculous but we dominated the second half how many times has this guy popped up with a goal hus rebound FC mahrez kind of assist because his shot leads to AWA Brave with the header right place right time Air's go to game ratio for Algeria is great he's not started that many games but he's got quite a few goals the Uganda goal um he should have scored against morania and he got a couple against Kate ver he keeps popping up with a goods and I like that about him a nice attacking goal scoring midfielder someone that we've missed but when we came out the blocks for that second half we were hungrier pressure chasing down balls really really good around and it should have been more than one then Rama missed a really good opportunity yasim benzia Goodness Me him and guy came on guy scored lateer on but benzia just before guy scored he's missed the S Haj Mora came on done very well and interestingly YF atal who I've said many times is much better going forward as a right winger than defensively actually came on and played right wing when mahrez came off he was great but the ballad also put in for benzia was great it was harder to miss from yassim benzia it was harder to genuinely Miss eator guine kicking off players Salvador got a yellow Pedro bank and Dong all these players kicking us ridiculous um but they're a good team and then you see the gy goal great counterattacking play the game stretched we win one two-nil game's done but it should have been more than two that's a promising sign we go to Liberia and get a positive result you know that's the business done we've beaten comfortably the best team apart from us in the group and that's a good sign so really pleased with that performance if you don't like it that's your choice you got to back Pekovic you got to back him if he wins games you can't complain so let me know your think about the game in the comments down below looking elsewhere I've said many I said I I didn't think chinia would qualify Dearing me are they the jamest team in Africa I mean it's just so boring they won one nil sassy scored in the 99th minute only three were added against Madagascar if comro and Gambia get their act together I still think chania despite that jam don't qualify Gana Neil Angola one Gana new manager same old Story I mean that is shocking Angola scored lateer on makes algeria's draw to Angola again not look so bad um Sudan winning with abua scoring look we've seen a few of the teams play you expect The Usual Suspects to qualify but let's get our work done let's make sure Algeria qualified we go to Liberia we didn't see far SE today um we didn't see aori today let's hope we see a couple of these Lads play in the second game we knew aori had an injury concerned coming into the game we know when you go away to Africa in the Heat and the humidity in the afternoon it's a completely different I used to say when I was younger it's a gor game it's a game where you need gadora you need a tackler I don't think you can do basa zeroi and a in that sort of terrain zeroi is not physical enough for that but we got the job done let me know your thoughts in the comments below I'll see you next time