On 30 July, Morocco and Algeria met for the first time at a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals. Morocco won it with a Sanaâ Mssoudy goal in the 84th minute, the only clear chance either side managed in ninety minutes. That goal ended up handing them top spot in the group.
Sixteen days on they meet again, this time for third place.
Neither has anything left to win in World Cup terms: WAFCON hands out four direct places for Brazil 2027 and they go to the four semi-finalists, so both have had theirs since Saturday 8 August. What is left is the bronze.
Algeria went from three shots to twenty-three
That 1-0 left a number that says where Algeria were a fortnight ago: three shots in the whole match, not one from inside the box, and 0.07 expected goals.
On Wednesday, in the semi-final against Malawi, they had twenty-three. Nine were on target. Algeria went down to ten in the 23rd minute, after Morgane Belkhiter was sent off, but Malawi also lost Rose Kadzere before the break.
Sixteen of those shots came in the second half, by then ten against ten, and with Algeria 0-2 down.
They lost anyway, 1-3. But between one match and the other there is a different team.
It is also the best tournament they have had. Algeria are at their seventh WAFCON and had never gone beyond the quarter-finals, a round they reached for the first time in 2024. Wednesday’s semi-final was their first.
On the way there they came from behind against Ivory Coast with two goals from shots worth 0.08 expected goals between them.
Morocco have conceded one goal in five matches and have not scored since the quarter-finals
Opposite them is the best defence in the tournament.
Morocco have let in one goal in five matches: Thembi Kgatlana’s, in the quarter-final against South Africa. They kept a clean sheet in all three group games and did it again across the 120 minutes of the semi-final.
The trouble is at the other end. Their last two goals came on 8 August, in that quarter-final, and in the semi-final against Cameroon they did not score in two hours despite 64% of the ball and thirteen shots. They created one clear chance, a penalty in the 118th minute, and Michaely Bihina saved it.
Both sides have scored exactly seven goals at this tournament. Morocco have conceded one; Algeria, five.
Captain Ghizlane Chebbak had gone off injured in the 57th minute of the quarter-final, but she started the semi.
What this match has of the Liga F
It is the tie with the deepest Spanish connection at this tournament, and all of it sits on one side.
Hanane Aït El Haj, the full-back who scored the quarter-final penalty, joined Deportivo Alavés on 24 July and will play this season in the Liga F. Yasmin Mrabet, of VCF Femenino, has started. Sakina Ouzraoui left Costa Adeje Tenerife on 30 June when her contract ran out. And Kautar Azraf, 18, was born in Manresa and has played her only senior season at Barcelona B, in Primera Federación.
Algeria have nobody who has played in Spain.
Two firsts in the same round
The 2026 edition is the third WAFCON in a row hosted by Morocco. In 1998 and 2000 they did not get out of the group; in their two appearances since, 2022 and 2024, they reached the final, and lost both — to South Africa and to Nigeria. On Saturday they play a third-place match for the first time.
Algeria will also be playing for third place for the first time, at their seventh WAFCON.
Kick-off is at 18:00 in Rabat, at the Olympic Stadium. The bracket closes the following day with the final.
