[AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS] The drought is over. Algeria, the USA's third opponent at the 2010 World Cup, became the first South Africa-bound team to win a game at the Africa Cup of Nations, defeating Mali, 1-0, on Rafik Halliche's header in the second half.
The Desert Foxes still have their work cut out for them, though. Host Angola's 1-0 win over Malawi means that Algeria will need to beat the host country on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals.
"Today, we played like a team and we got the result we wanted," Algeria's homegrown coach Rabah Saadane said. "It takes a long time to build a team of excellent players."
Halliche scored the Fennecs' first goal of the tournament, deflecting Karim Ziani's free kick into the Mali goal.
Algeria's win followed reports out of Algeria that midfielder Khaled Lemmouchia had quit the team after getting into a confrontation with Saadane and two other players, Rafik Saifi and Mohamed Ousserir, got into a fight.
Algeria-Malawi Hilights:
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