The Desert Foxes reached the pinnacle of African football after beating Nigeria 1-0 in the 1990 AFCON final.  That feat brought joy to the Algerians after multiple failed attempts. The legend of Rabah Madjer was born there. The midfielder scored two in the tournament and consistently put in sensational performances which earned him the Player of the Tournament award.

Algeria since then have been flirting with group stage exits and the quarter-final spots. They got close to another final in Angola 2010, going on a solid run until facing Egypt in the semis. They were given a 4-0 thrashing by the eventual winners and also lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the 3^rd place playoff.

Overview

The 1990 champions have won the silver medal on one occasion, losing to hosts Nigeria in the 1980 final. They earned the bronze medal four years later with a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory over North African rivals Egypt.

After a disappointing group stage exit in 1986, the Desert Foxes stepped up their game in 1998, taking the bronze medal home once again. They came out victors against the hosts Morocco 4-3 on penalties after the match ended with a goal apiece.

Algeria has had some struggles since the fourth-place finish in 2010. They only made it to the quarterfinals once in the next four AFCON tournaments and were even absent in 2012 edition. That has hurt their standings in the FIFA rankings. The Desert Foxes are currently 68^th in the FIFA rankings and 12^th in Africa.

The coach, Djamel Belmadi will be looking to improve Algeria’s form in Egypt. Djamel wore the Algerian colours as a player from 2000 to 2004. He played for the likes of Marseille in France and Celta Vigo in Spain as a midfielder in his prime years.

His coaching career got off to a great start after taking the reins of Lekhwiya in Qatar. He led the side to the Qatar Stars League title in the 2010/2011 season. He won that trophy three more times since then (2012, 2017 and 2018).

Djamel has also won the Qatar Emir Cup (2016, 2018) and the Qatar Cup in 2018. His good performances earned him a stint with the Qatar national team in 2014 and he led the side to the Gulf Cup of Nations that year.

This will be Djamel’s first taste of the AFCON as a manager but his impressive CV inspires hope among the Algerian faithful. Djamel has a very talented side to work within the AFCON and are well stocked in the defensive and midfield department.

A cause for concern, however, will be the striking department after the coach decided to call only two strikers to Egypt. Djamel will have to use the wide midfielders well to take care of the imbalance.

How they qualified

Algeria were placed in Group D with Benin, Gambia and Togo. The Desert Foxes took top spot with 11 points. Their only defeat came at the hands of Benin (1-0). They did, however, beat Benin in the reverse fixture at home (2-0). Algeria managed to beat Togo twice (1-0 and 4-1) and the rest were stalemates.

Who’s in their group?

Algeria will face Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania in Group C.

How have they fared against those teams in the past?

The Desert Foxes have a good record against Tanzania, beating them 5 times and drawing 4 in 10 meetings. Algeria and Kenya are yet to decide the better team. The record stands at 3 wins apiece and a draw. Algeria will be happy with their record against favourites Senegal so far, with 12 victories and 5 draws in 21 meetings.

Key player

The big job falls in the hands of Riyad Mahrez. The 2016 PFA Player of the year was a key contributor to qualification for the Algerians, scoring two goals. Mahrez was part of the side’s disappointing performance in the previous tournament and will hope to improve in Egypt.

Did you know?

The national animal of Algeria is the Fennec Fox which is the origin of the nickname of the national team. The fennec is a small desert fox with disproportionately large ears.

The largest country by area in all of Africa is Algeria. It is the tenth-largest in the world but surprisingly, only 12 percent of its land is inhabited. Over 90 percent of the country is covered by the Sahara desert.

Player to watch

The young Ismael Bennacer is a player to follow in the tournament. Ismael was former Arsenal youth team player who currently plays for Empoli in the Italian Serie A. He has been a regular for the Italian club since signing for them in 2017 and helped them gain promotion from the Serie B to the top league in one season.

Bennacer can play multiple positions at the center of the field including the deepy lying playmaker, attacking midfielder and the mezzala role.

How far will they go?

Algeria will be expected to easily advance to the next round with Senegal. They possess a number of dangerous players that can cause havoc to any side. A quarter-final appearance will at least be expected from the Desert Foxes.

-- 

Follow all the tournament games with #JoyAFCON. There’s live radio commentary on Joy 99.7FM, post-match programs on Joy FM, JoyNews TV (available via MultiTV Digibox and on DStv channel 421), Joy Prime (on DStv 281), analysis shows, and fanzones. Follow complete social media coverage on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with @JoySportsGH.