Guinea and Algeria share spoils in a monotonous goalless clash

Several chances, Guinea's better performance, Riyad Mahrez's "invisibility," and a goalless draw in the end. With an eventual win, Algeria would have been on the brink of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This way, they are still very close.

As a matter of fact, the Desert Foxes are that close that a triumph over either Somalia or Uganda in one of the last two rounds will take them to the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

As for Guinea, they are currently fourth, sitting four points behind Uganda and Mozambique, so they practically don't have room for error if they want to grab the second place in Group G and keep their World Cup dreams alive.

The crowd witnessed an interesting opening half, in which the Desert Foxes controlled the first part and Guinea the second. The rivals were equal at the break, and their performances were pretty similar, as each team wasted one colossal chance.

Fourteen minutes into the game, Mohamed Amoura had a one-on-one situation with the Guinean keeper Moussa Kamara. However, instead of passing the ball to the far post where Said Benrahma was alone in front of the empty net, Amoura decided to shoot, and the custodian stopped his effort. Truth be told, Wolfsburg's striker had been offside when receiving the ball, but the refs made a mistake and hadn't seen it.

Twelve minutes later, the National Elephants had their moment, but the outcome was the same - no goal. This time, Aliou Balde made a terrific solo effort over the right flank and found Morlaye Sylla in the box, but the winger shot poorly from close range, allowing Alexis Guendouz to make a great save.

Interestingly, the two teams' best players, Serhou Guirassy and Riyad Mahrez, were quite invisible during the first 45 minutes.

Dying-minutes heroic goal takes Tunisia to World Cup! Morocco win again

The second period started with Guinea's massive chance. Dortmund striker initiated a quick fastbreak, and found Balde, who dribbled the ball past the keeper, and shot it towards the empty net, but Youcef Atal made a superb goal-line clearance, denying the home team an opener.

Nevertheless, Algeria seemed very uninspired after the break, so their coach, Vladimir Petkovic, opted for an unusual move halfway through the second half - he subbed out both Mahrez and Benrahma, giving a chance to Feyenoord's Anis Hadj Moussa and Amine Gouiri of Olympique Marseille.

Still, Guinea's pressure continued. Guirassy had a decent chance from a close-range free kick, but hit the wall. That moment marked the last notable moment of the match, as, apart from a bunch of fouls and several substitutions, nothing interesting happened in the last 10-15 minutes.

In the remaining two duels in Group G, Mozambique had brushed aside Botswana 2-0 earlier today, and Uganda beat Somalia by the same margin.

2026 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS - AFRICA

Saturday

Nigeria - Rwanda 1-0 (0-0)

/Arokodare 51/

Monday

Equatorial Guinea - Tunisia 0-1 (0-0)

/Ben Romdhane 90+5/

Mozambique - Botswana 2-0 (1-0)

/Witi 6, Bangal 71/

Zambia - Morocco 0-2 (0-1)

/En Nesyri 7, Igamane 47/

Guinea - Algeria 0-0

Guinea Bissau - Djibouti 2-0 (0-0)

/Imbene 54, Cande 82/

Madagascar - Chad 3-1 (0-1)

/Caddy 52, Raveloson 69, Abdallah 90+3 - Allarabaye 25/

Malawi - Liberia 2-2 (0-1)

/Mhango 72, Kaonga 80 - Kosiah 3, 62/

Uganda - Somalia 2-0 (2-0)

/Okello 6 pen, Ssemugabi 39/

22.00: (2.10) Ghana (3.20) Mali (3.80)

22.00: (1.35) Libya (4.10) Eswatini (10.0)

Tuesday

16.00: (1.03) Kenya (15.0) Seychelles (75.0)

16.00: (1.17) Namibia (7.25) Sao Tome (17.0)

16.00: (2.05) Sierra Leone (3.30) Ethiopia (3.80)

16.00: (1.82) Tanzania (3.45) Niger (4.70)

16.00: (2.75) Zimbabwe (2.95) Rwanda (2.85)

19.00: (3.20) Burkina Faso (3.20) Egypt (2.35)

19.00: (2.95) Cape Verde (3.05) Cameroon (2.60)

19.00: (3.60) DR Congo (3.15) Senegal (2.20)

19.00: (2.55) South Africa (3.05) Nigeria (3.00)

19.00: (2.25) Togo (3.15) Sudan (3.45)

22.00: (1.20) Angola (6.50) Mauritius (16.0)

22.00: (1.60) Benin (3.60) Lesotho (6.75)

22.00: (3.80) Gabon (3.30) Ivory Coast (2.05)

22.00: (1.67) Gambia (3.60) Burundi (5.70)

22.00: (1.35) Mauritania (4.60) South Sudan (10.5)

***odds are subject to change***