Bayern Munich draw with Togo thanks to Ben Sebaini's goal: Algeria unbeatable in Afcon qualifiers
Algeria continued their positive results in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, after securing an important win over their guests Togo by a single unanswered goal today, Saturday, as part of the third round of the qualifiers for the finals of the 2027 edition.
Algeria preserved their unbeaten record in the qualifiers, and coach Ibrahim Hamdani kept his own impressive run going.
Rami Bensebaini settled it. The defender struck the match's only goal in the 76th minute, handing Algeria three precious points at the Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium in Tizi Ouzou.
Read also
Cucurella: these two players deserve the Ballon d'Or more than Kane
In numbers: Hakimi is the king of assists in the 21st century, and an unprecedented run for Morocco
For the Borussia Dortmund man, the goal carried a little extra. It took his tally against Togo to four across his professional career, making the Togolese Bensebaini's favourite opponent, level with Bayern Munich, according to French network "stats foot".
Victory lifted Algeria to seven points from three matches in Group One. They opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over Zambia, drew 2-2 with Burundi, then saw off Togo courtesy of Bensebaini.
Zambia sit second on four points, Togo third on three, and Burundi fourth on two.
The result stretched Algeria's remarkable run in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying to 23 games unbeaten, 17 wins and six draws.
You have to go back to 16 October 2018 for their last defeat in Cup of Nations qualifiers, a 1-0 loss to Benin.
That one came during qualifying for the 2019 edition. From there Algeria embarked on a run of positive results spanning several qualifying campaigns, reaching the finals more than once and lifting the Africa Cup of Nations itself in Egypt in 2019.
For the technical staff, the win over Togo gave Hamdani a third victory in his first four matches in charge of Algeria, with one draw.
He started with a win over Zambia, then a draw with Burundi, followed by a friendly win over Niger, and now Togo.
No Algeria coach had begun so well since Frenchman Christian Gourcuff, who racked up four straight wins in his first four matches in 2014.
Hamdani took the job last September, replacing the Swiss Vladimir Petković after Algeria's round of 16 exit to Switzerland at the 2026 World Cup. He set about reshaping the side and handing chances to several new faces, while keeping a core group of key players.
Algeria and Togo meet again on Tuesday 17 November in Lomé, in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
