Happy birthday Djamel Belmadi.
On his 46th birthday, the Algeria coach finally won, thanks to a goal from Islam Slimani (41st), in this stadium which had not succeeded in January.
Eliminated in the first round of the last CAN, while the "Greens" were defending champions, this time they won inside Douala, where a failure of some projectors led to the interruption of the match for seven minutes, at the start of the second period.
Belmadi's three-man defense perfectly closed the access to the goal of the "Indomitable Lions", in a stadium where Algeria had suffered the law of Côte d'Ivoire (3-1).
On the other hand Rigobert Song missed his first on the bench of Cameroon.
Legendary player turned coach, despite his inexperience, the former captain did not really manage to shake up the "Greens".
Called a month ago to replace the Portuguese Toni Conceiçao, Song had notably established Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, angry with the Portuguese coach.
But on the best period of Cameroon, "Choupo" devoured a four against three (25th).
Otherwise the duo Vincent Aboubakar-Karl Toko-Ekambi, 13 goals between them at the CAN, did not achieve much.
Very generous Islam Slimani opened the scoring with a powerful header from a free kick by Youcef Belaïli
André Onana touched her, but could not prevent her from entering.
The Sporting Portugal striker confirms his status as the selection's top scorer, with this 40th international goal.
The Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper had already had to make a huge save against Slimani, who arrived alone after stealing the ball from Michael Ngadeu (14th).
Algerian striker Islam Slimani surprises the Cameroon defense and scores the only goal of the first leg of the World Cup in Douala, March 25, 2022 DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO AFP
African record holder of participation in the World Cup, with seven contested editions, Cameroon must turn the tide in Blida on Tuesday if it wants to play eighth in the world.
© 2022 AFP