{"id":11511,"date":"2025-03-26T17:18:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/?p=11511"},"modified":"2025-03-26T17:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:18:05","slug":"algeria-crushes-mozambique-5-1-to-secure-top-spot-in-world-cup-qualifying-group-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/?p=11511","title":{"rendered":"Algeria Crushes Mozambique 5-1 to Secure Top Spot in World Cup Qualifying Group G"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tizi Ouzou, March 25, 2025<\/strong> \u2013 In a thrilling display of dominance and attacking brilliance, the Algerian national football team swept aside Mozambique with a resounding 5-1 victory<\/strong> on Tuesday evening at the newly inaugurated Hussein A\u00eft Ahmed Stadium<\/strong> in Tizi Ouzou. The match, part of the sixth round of CAF World Cup 2026 qualifiers<\/strong>, saw the “Desert Warriors” reclaim first place in Group G<\/strong> with 15 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the opening whistle, Algeria showed clear intent, pressing high and dictating the tempo. Within just eight minutes<\/strong>, forward Mohamed El Amine Amoura<\/strong> capitalized on a defensive error, setting up a one-two with Riyad Mahrez<\/strong> before calmly finishing past the Mozambican goalkeeper to open the scoring and ignite the home crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressure continued as Algeria doubled their lead in the 24th minute<\/strong>, thanks to a powerful header from defender A\u00efssa Mandi<\/strong>, who reacted quickest to a rebound off a saved shot from Rayan A\u00eft Nouri<\/strong>. Just six minutes later, Mahrez once again turned provider, dazzling the defense with his dribbling before assisting Amoura for his second of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a brief lapse in concentration that allowed Mozambique\u2019s Geny Catamo<\/strong> to pull one back in the 39th minute<\/strong>, the first half ended 3-1 in favor of the Algerians, who had completely controlled proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half, the hosts remained relentless. Jowan Hadjam<\/strong> headed home a fourth goal in the 65th minute<\/strong>, assisted once again by the man of the match, Amoura. The final blow came in the 79th minute<\/strong>, when Amoura completed his hat-trick<\/strong>, latching onto a loose ball in the box and slamming it home, sealing an emphatic win and earning the title of “Player of the Match”<\/strong> with three goals and one assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head coach Vladimir Petkovic<\/strong> utilized the comfortable lead to rotate his squad, introducing key names like Youcef Bela\u00efli<\/strong>, Sa\u00efd Benrahma<\/strong>, Ibrahim Maza<\/strong>, Amine Chiakha<\/strong>, and Youcef Atal<\/strong>. Their fresh energy helped maintain Algeria\u2019s high tempo and pressure, although a sixth goal narrowly eluded the team despite several late chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this victory, Algeria now leads Group G with 15 points<\/strong>, ahead of Mozambique (12 points). Botswana and Uganda follow with 9 points each, Guinea holds 7, and Somalia trails with just 1 point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to kickoff, a minute of silence<\/strong> was observed in memory of Jamal Menad<\/strong>, the former national team striker and Algerian football icon, who passed away recently at the age of 64.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other Group G matches, Uganda defeated Guinea 1-0<\/strong>, and Botswana overcame Somalia 2-0<\/strong>. Algeria will next face Botswana at home<\/strong> in the seventh round of qualifiers, scheduled between September 1 and 9, 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the top team in each of the nine CAF groups<\/strong> will directly qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/strong>, while the four best second-placed teams will enter a continental playoff, followed by an intercontinental decider for a chance to secure the final World Cup berths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by: Nor Eleslam for Dzwatch.dz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tizi Ouzou, March 25, 2025 \u2013 In a thrilling display of dominance and attacking brilliance, the Algerian national football team swept aside Mozambique with a resounding 5-1 victory on Tuesday evening at the newly inaugurated Hussein A\u00eft Ahmed Stadium in Tizi Ouzou. The match, part of the sixth round of CAF World Cup 2026 qualifiers, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-algeria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11513,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11511\/revisions\/11513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}