MOROCCO — Algeria become the first team to reach the Women‘s Africa Cup of Nations semifinals, as goals from Inès Khiri and Amira Ould Braham cancelled out Inès Konan’s opener for the Ivory Coast in the first quarterfinal in Casablanca on Saturday.
The Elephants, one of the surprise packages of the tournament so far, were architects of their own 2-1 downfall at the Moulay Rachid Stadium, with two goalkeeping errors, a red card and a missed penalty all conspiring to them snatching defeat from the hands of victory.
While Algeria thus became the first African side to qualify for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, the Ivorians are not yet out of the running, and will contest a playoff in Casablanca on Thursday to advance to the inter-confederation playoffs.
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There had been rumours before the fixture of a pre-match strike by the Elephants due to a row over bonuses, although they showed little signs of any malaise during a typically vibrant opening half-hour.
The Fennecs endured a setback in the 20th minute when injured fullback Morgane Ikene was replaced by Morgane Belkhiter, and were behind 10 minutes later after Kone bravely finished from close range after Chloe N’Gazi had parried Safi Ouedraogo’s shot into her path.
Algeria claimed a foul by Ouedraogo in the build-up, for barging Belkhiter to the ground before getting her shot away, but the referee was unmoved.
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Most adventurous in possession, the Elephants appeared more likely to add to their tally, but their first self-inflicted wound came just before half-time when wonderkid Ouedraogo — outstanding in the tournament to date — was dismissed harshly after a VAR intervention for a raised boot on N’Gazi.
The wonderkid had earlier scored a magnificent solo effort, evading Lana Smits before finishing from a tight angle, only to be flagged for offside.
This left Algeria with a full half against ten players to take advantage, and they responded with two changes at the break, Khiri and Ikram Adjabi entering the fray as Farid Benstiti sought to push home the advantage.
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They were level just before the hour-mark; Khiri’s effort from range, in a right-hand channel, appeared speculative, but Ivorian stopper Aramatou Diakité appeared to misjudge the flight of the ball and was unable to prevent it beating her at her near post.
To their credit, the Elephants’ heads didn’t drop, and they were awarded a penalty four minutes later when Roselène Khezami clumsily tripped Frederique Abrogoua. Rebecca Elloh stepped up, but sent her effort beyond N’Gazi and against the post as the West Africans missed a golden opportunity to restore their advantage.
Two minutes later, they were made to pay. Ould Braham, lively and inventive throughout, scored the winner in the 64th minute when another effort from range beat Diakite, who appeared to go to ground far too quickly as the ball bounced harmlessly over her.
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The Ivorians thought they’d secured another penalty when Elloh was brought down in the box — the typically watertight Algeria defence troubled by the Elephants’ dribbling and direct movement — only for an offside call to save the Fennecs.
It was a catastrophic lapse for the Elephants, and concluded up a miserable half-hour for them as they lost control of the contest and allowed Algeria to advance to their first WAFCON semi and first World Cup.
