Algeria clinch 2017 Nations Cup place

Lille’s Yassine Benzia scored his first goal for Algeria since opting to play for the Desert Foxes rather than France

Africa’s top-ranked nation Algeria clinched their place at the 2107 Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday with a 2-0 win in Seychelles.

Yassine Benzia and El Arabi Soudani scored in each half to ensure Algeria will win Group J.

Cameroon can join then at the finals in Gabon with a a win in Mauritania on Friday.

Tunisia will lose the chance of winning Group A if Djibouti beat them on Friday and Liberia beat Togo on Sunday.

The other game on Friday is Libya playing Morocco, who have already qualified for Gabon.

Twenty more matches over the weekend complete the penultimate round of qualifiers.

The group winners and the best two runners-up will qualify for the finals.

Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers:Thursday:Friday:Grp J – Seychelles 0-2 AlgeriaGrp A – Djibouti v Tunisia (1330GMT)Grp M – Mauritania v Cameroon (1700GMT)(Kick-off times via Caf website)Grp F – Libya v Morocco (1800GMT)

Lille’s Benzia scored his first goal for Algeria since swapping national allegiances from France earlier this year.

He scored five minutes before half-time as the Seychelles defence failed to deal with a cross and the ball fell at his feet with his back to the goal before swivelling to score.

Soudani doubled the score on hour mark when as he got on the end of a free-kick from Ryad …

continue reading in source www.bbc.co.uk