AFCON 2021: Defending champ Algeria crash out, Equatorial Guinea join others in Round of 16

Defending champions Algeria failed to make it past the group stage of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Cote D’Ivoire ans crashing out of the tournament on Thursday evening with Equatorial Guinea beating Sierra-Leone by a lone goal.

The Desert Fox of Algeria before the tournament were on 35 matches unbeaten run, one of the best team in the continent according to FIFA rankings over the past two years consistently but all that were to put shreds in their AFCON campaign.

Grouped alongside Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire in Group E the defending champions were shadow of their old self and were only able to get a point in three matches .

Cote D’Ivoire came top of Group E with seven points while E/Guinea came second with six points and will progress to the Round of 16.

Others teams that have qualified for Round of 16 include, Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea, Morocco, Egypt and Gabon.

Cameroon was the first country to qualify for the AFCON round of 16 after wins over Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

AFCON: Round of 16 pairings

· Burkina Faso vs Gabon in Limbe on Sunday

· Senegal vs Cape Verde in Bofoussam on Tuesday

· Morocco vs Malawi in Yaounde on Tuesday.