An early goal from Ghoutia Karchouni secured a 1-0 victory for Algeria over Botswana in their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Group B clash in Casablanca on Sunday.
The victory was a first for the North African side at the continental finals since 2014 and just their third ever, and was a deserved three points, with Botswana unable to muster much in the way of chances in the game.
It is a fifth straight loss for Botswana at the continental finals in their second ever appearance, and frustratingly four of those five defeats have been by single goal margins, showing they have been competitive throughout.
Algeria led on the 10-minute mark thanks to a fine team goal. They played the ball out of defence and when Inès Boutaleb was found on the right wing, her cut-back into the box was hit first time by Karchouni to score into the bottom left corner.
Algeria’s Lina Boussaha saw a cross-come-shot go just wide of the post, before Botswana goalkeeper Sedilame Boseja made a stunning sprawling stop to keep out Marine Defeur’s free-kick in an early contender for save of the tournament.
Botswana battled to create chances to trouble Algeria goalkeeper Chloe N'Gazi but Mokgabo Thanda had a header at the back post from a corner that flashed just wide.
Their best chance fell to Laone Moloi, who had a free header in the box but steered her effort straight at the goalkeeper when a yard either side would have seen her score.
Boseja had to make several saves as she put in an excellent individual performance, keeping the North Africans from adding to their tally.
Algeria, who are aiming to reach the knockout stages at the WAFCON for the first time, are next in action on Thursday when they face Tunisia in a North African derby, while Botswana meet record nine-time winners Nigeria.
Nigeria defeated Tunisia 3-0 in their Group B opener earlier on Sunday. The top two teams in each pool as well as the two best third-placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.