The 2019 champions came into the tie as favourites on paper but alas! they could only settle for a draw as Angola Stood firmly in a fierce Monday night clash.
Fares Chaibi was the first to test Adilson Cipriano as early as the 6th minute after doing well to connect with a Youcef Belaili cross for his volleyed effort to go narrowly wide.
Belaili, remained a constant threat to the Angolan defense throughout the game and almost opened the scoring charts in the eighth minute 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 after 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 Egypt.
Coming back from the break, Angola’s plan was to get balls into the danger area – a tactic that paid dividends in the 68th minute when substitute, Cristovao Paciencia converted from the spot kick after he was fouled in the box by Nabil Bentaleb.
In the end, Cristovao Paciencia rescued a vital point for his side after converting from the spot to hold Algeria to a 1-1 stalemate at Bouake’s Stade De La Paix in their Africa Cup of Nations 2023 Group C opener against the former champions on Monday night.
The evenly contested encounter ended with both sides sharing the spoils in front of a highly vocal Stade De La Paix crowd.
Next up for Algeria is a clash against Burkina Faso on Saturday while Angola will face Mauritania in the other fixture.
