• 08:25
  • Monday ,28 August 2017
العربية

African Nations Championship: Egypt and Algeria fail to qualify

By BBC News

Sports

00:08

Monday ,28 August 2017

African Nations Championship: Egypt and Algeria fail to qualify
Egypt and Algeria failed to qualify for the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in Kenya after suffering aggregate defeats to Morocco and Libya respectively.
 
Morocco beat Egypt 3-1 in Rabat on Friday to win the tie 4-2 overall.
 
Libya held Algeria to a 1-1 draw in Sfax to go through to the finals with a 3-2 aggregate victory.
 
The match was played in Tunisia for security reasons.
 
The Moroccans clinched their place thanks to three second-half goals from Jawad Yamiq, Abderrahim Maqran and Badr Belhrouz.
 
Hamid Hossam scored a late consolation goal for Egypt, who were making their debut in the biennial competition for home-based footballers.
 
Algeria knew they had to score at least twice against Libya to survive having lost the first leg 2-1, and they took the lead midway through the first half when Sofiane Bendebka scored off a rebound.
 
But first-leg match-winner Muaid Ellafi levelled on the stroke of half-time and Libya held on to take the aggregate win.
 
Despite CHAN matches only featuring locally-based footballers the games have full international status and count toward the monthly Fifa rankings.