Algeria, Tunisia play to tame draw in North African derby

Algeria and Tunisia played to a tame goalless draw in their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Group B clash at the Père Jégo Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday.

Algeria move top of the table, temporarily at least, with four points from their two games, while Tunisia managed a first point of the campaign.

Nigeria and Botswana player later in the evening.

Algeria dominated possession but neither side created a chance of note in the game, with lots of endeavour but little quality in the final third.

A lovely move from Algeria in the first half allowed Ghoutia Karchouni to have a shot from the edge of the box but her curling effort was too close to goalkeeper Soulaima Jebrani.

Karchouni scored the winner for Algeria in their 1-0 win over Botswana in their first game and this was from a similar position, but did not have the same accuracy.

Marine Dafeur’s left-footed drive from a free-kick was beaten to safety by Jebrani in the second half, perhaps the closest Algeria came to a winner.

Algeria enjoyed 70 per cent of the possession and had the greater number of shots on target (6), but they were often too tame and did not work Jebrani enough.

Tunisia only had one effort on target in the 90 minutes, their only one of the tournament so far, and are yet to break their duck.

Algeria are next in action against Nigeria in their final Group B game on Sunday, while Tunisia will look for three points against Botswana that will give them a chance of advancing.

The top two teams in each pool go through to the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-placed nations.