Houssem Aouar scored his first goal for the Algeria national team with a brace in a 5-1 win over Cape Verde on Thursday night.
The 25-year-old AS Roma midfielder ditched France, the country of his birth to represent the Desert Foxes and made his debut in a Group F 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Uganda back in June. It was followed by another appearance in a friendly with Tunisia that same month.
Thursday’s game against the Blue Sharks was his third cap for the Foxes after missing the September international window due to a muscle injury.
Union Saint-Gilloise forward Mohamed Amoura opened the scoring in the 12th minute off an assist from former Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez. This was followed by Aouar’s brace in the 39th and 41st minute with the assists coming from OGC Nice full-back Youcef Atal and former Leicester City forward Islam Slimani.
???????? ???? ????????
#DesertWarriors
#123vivalAlgérie???????? pic.twitter.com/1WQUs0sYk2— Équipe d'Algérie de football (@LesVerts) October 12, 2023
Former Manchester United forward Bebe pulled one back for Cape Verde in the 55th minute but Algeria still had more goals in their tank with Feyenoord’s Ramiz Zerrouki and Slimani (penalty) adding their names on the score sheet in the 61st and 89th minute respectively.
Algeria will play another friendly next Monday, this time with rivals Egypt who defeated Zambia 1-0 on Thursday courtesy of Hamdi Fathi’s winner deep in injury time.
In another friendly on Thursday, Russia defeated Cameroon 1-0. It was the first non-Asian team the Russians played in a friendly since last year’s invasion of Ukraine which led to ejection of the team from FIFA and UEFA-sanctioned events.
