Tunisia were able
to snatch victory
over Algeria
thanks to an
unstoppable
stoppage minute strike from Youssef Msakni in Rustenburg,
during their Africa Cup of Nations
Group D encounter on Tuesday
night. The familiar foes met each other
in what was surprisingly their
first Afcon clash and neither side
could find a goal until the 91st
minute, when Yousseff Msakni
produced a moment of magic to win the game for the Tunisians. The Algerians went to the match
with a slight edge over their
opponents and buoyed by a
stellar 2012 season, which saw
them rise to 2nd ranking in Africa
under the firm control of Vahid Halilhodzic. The north African derby began as
expected, as both sides looked
intent on closing down their
opponents with some rather
unforgiving and firm tackles flying
in, resulting in a few off-the-ball incidents between the bitter
rivals. Issam Jemaa was a victim of a
committed challenge and had to
leave the pitch on a stretcher
early on in the first half and could
not continue for Tunisia, as he
was replaced by Hamdi Harbaoui, a severe loss for the Tunisians
due to Jemaa's record in front
of goal. Sofiane Feghouli became the
second man to be felled by a late
tackle, which resulted in the first
yellow card of the match for
Aymen Abdennourin in the 13th
minute. The continued stop-start nature
of the game meant chances were
few and far between until
Algeria's Kadir was able to
create some space on his right
foot, but could only slice his attempt into the arms of Sharifa.
Algeria was beginning to secure
some kind of control over
proceedings. The Fennec Foxes came close once
more on the 30 minute mark
when Feghouli tormented Tunisia
down the left and curled in a
pinpoint cross to Slimani Islam,
who turned the ball towards goal with a header, but his attempt
smashed into the crossbar,
denying Algeria's dominance once
more. Algeria could not find any kind of
reward for their consistent
attacking play and were almost
punished by a Tunisia counter-
attack, when Khlifa burst into
space and powered a strike straight at M'Bolhi, who was able
to clear the ball out of danger. Algeria certainly edged
proceedings and would have been
disappointed not to find the lead
as the first half came to a close
with the score goalless. However,
they would have found solace in their improved display towards
the end of the first stanza. The second half began similarly to
the first, as both sides adopted a
tactical and measured approach
to their play, with Tunisia looking
a tad more dangerous in the
opening minutes. It was a rather dreary and
frustrating affair until Algeria's
exciting Mesbah charged forward
down the centre and unleashed a
strike with his left boot, which
brushed the right post as it went wide. Algeria began to control matters
once more, but faced a disciplined
Tunisian defence who barely gave
an inch as the second half
continued. Guedioura almost found
the breakthrough with a scintillating drive towards goal,
but his effort clipped the
crossbar leaving the player on
the floor in agony. A game which desperately needed
a moment of inspiration saw
Tunisia's Harbaoui come close to
providing the opener as he was
released by Darragi down the left
and tried to drive in an effort at the near post, but he sliced his
attempt wide. The game seemed to have
petered out untilMsakni cut inside and burst forward down
the middle, picked his spot and
smashed home a shot into the
top right corner, sending Tunisian
players and fans alike into
absolute rapture. The goal was a stunner, and Tunisia earned all
three points from the encounter
thanks to the moment of magic.