World News – United States – Algeria extend unbeaten 20 games despite red card

African champions Algeria extended their unbeaten 20 matches by drawing 2-2 with Mexico in the Netherlands on Tuesday despite a 35-minute game with 10 men

Adlene Guedioura was sent off after receiving a second yellow card 55 minutes into an international friendly in the Dutch capital, The Hague

Algeria lagged behind, then led before conceding a second goal three minutes from the end of regulation time to set up a tense finish

Jesus Manuel Corona put the Mexicans ahead in just the 43rd minute in the second game between the countries, with Mexico winning a World Cup warm-up in 1985

Ismael Bennacer equalized before half-time and Manchester City winger and Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez put his country in the lead midway through the second half

The two winners of the Africa Cup of Nations retained this advantage with 10 men until Daniel Lainez equalized

Algeria last lost in October 2018, to Benin in the 2019 Nations Cup qualifiers, and have since won 16 competitive and friendly international matches and have drawn four

The 20 matches were played against the African opposition apart from the victories over Qatar and Colombia and the draw against Mexico

Before heading to the Netherlands, Algeria beat Nigeria 1-0 in Austria last Friday in a repeat of a 2019 Nations Cup semi-final won by a Mahrez free kick

Like many other African countries, Algeria took advantage of FIFA’s international window from October 5 to 13 to prepare for the resumption of the 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers

Days 3 and 4 will be played next month after a long delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and Algeria will face Zimbabwe at home and away in Group H

Meanwhile, Nigeria and Tunisia drew 1-1 in Austrian town of Sankt Veit an der Glan in yet another rematch of the 2019 Nations Cup tournament in Egypt

Nigeria won a third place in the playoffs last year and began to promise another victory over Tunisia as Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho scored in the 21st minute

He had a chance to score again soon after, but his weakly-hit penalty was saved by Farouk Ben Mustapha, whose foul on Nigerian captain Ahmed Musa led to the free kick

Tunisia, who beat Sudan four days ago, returned to a tie with one minute of half-time thanks to Mohamed Drager, but there was no extra goal

After drawing with Belgium, first nation of football, Côte d’Ivoire lost last week 1-0 to Japan in the Dutch city of Utrecht

Unmarked Naomichi Ueda snatched a late Japanese winner with a plunging header to the far post in front of goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo

Morocco failed to build on an impressive win over Africa’s top-ranked Senegal team last week and were unable to draw 1-1 with Democratic Republic of Congo in Rabat

Noussair Mazraoui put the hosts forward at the stroke of half-time, but a Congolese team severely exhausted by the withdrawals leveled by Yoane Wissa

Algeria, Mexican national football team, Riyad Mahrez, Mexico