Following the quarter final win over Ivory Coast, Algeria have been dealt a major blow as Youcef Atal’s injury will rule him out of the rest of the tournament, Bestchoicesports.com.ng understands.
While they have looked like the team to beat in the tournament so far, Algeria have suffered their first major setback as Atal’s injury is just as bad as initially feared, having suffered a fractured collarbone.
Atal has been one of the stars of the tournament, providing a constant attacking threat down the right-hand side of the pitch for Algeria. Even his injury was suffered when he went on one of his marauding runs and fell off the pitch into some hard ground, landing awkwardly in the process.
Following his injury, Atal was replaced by Mehdi Zeffane and it looks likely that the Stade Rennais man will be the solution for the remainder of the campaign.
Algeria’s next game is against Nigeria on Sunday the 14th of July at 8PM Nigeria time.