Mahrez Strike Helps Algeria Qualify

The Desert Foxes went 1-0 down early on, but a superb through ball from the City attacker fed in Sofiane Feghouli, who fired in from close range for the equaliser.
And for the second time in two games Mahrez scored for his nation, curling a stunning strike into the back of the net to give his side the lead before Yacine Brahimi added a third in the first half to wrap up the win.
Mahrez has featured strongly for the Foxes this season after appearing eight times in all competitions, scoring one and setting up another in the 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw at King Power Stadium in October.
After carrying his form onto the international stage, Mahrez’s country have now qualified for the African Cup of Nations next year along with Cape Verde, Tunisia, South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Senegal.
With the help of the Foxes winger, Group B side Algeria are the only team in the competition to have won all five of their opening games, but face a challenging clash with second-placed Mali on Wednesday, having scraped to a 1-0 win against them in September.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Schlupp, who put in an impressive performance at left-back in the 2-0 Barclays Premier League defeat to Southampton last time out, was an unused substitute in Ghana’s 1-0 loss to Uganda.
The Black Stars were previously unbeaten in the competition but a solitary Ugandan strike meant Schlupp’s nation suffered their first defeat of the tournament.
Ghana remain top of Group E and face Togo in their next African Cup of Nations outing, with a victory making them group winners and ultimately securing qualification.
Development Squad defender Alie Sesay was in the Sierra Leone starting XI for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Ivory Coast in Abidjan and the Leone Stars threatened an upset when Mustapha Bangura cancelled out Kolo Toure's opener halfway through the first half.
But two goals from Salomon Kalou, a strike from former Fox Max Gradel and a fifth from Gervinho took the Ivory Coast to within touching distance of qualification, while ending any slim hopes Alie's side had of reaching the finals.
Over in Europe, Development Squad striker Simonas Stankevicius was also an unused substitute in Lithuania’s 4-0 European Championship qualifying loss to Switzerland in St. Gallen.
A double from Bayern Munich midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri means the young frontman’s nation drop to fourth in Group E.
Stankevicius will next head to Kiev with his nation when they take on Ukraine in an international friendly on Tuesday.
For updates on the progress of all of City’s players that are away on international duty, make sure you check back into LCFC.com over the next few days.