Reigning champions Algeria were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations after an abject 3-1 defeat against the Ivory Coast as the group stage came to a conclusion on Thursday with Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and tiny tournament debutants the Comoros all securing places in the last 16. They finish bottom of their group with a single point.
Algeria was ousted from the tournament early, with one point from 3 matches, when draw with Sierra Leone and a loss from Equatorial Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, to be the 13th time that the champion has been eliminated from the group stage, out of 33 in the African Nations. 
The exit of the desert warriors is unusual, as the "Greens" failed to achieve any victory, and scored only one goal, in a group that was not among the most difficult in the tournament, especially with the presence of two teams with modest capabilities, namely the teams of Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. 
The professionals’ failure to present the level they present in their clubs reflects in the national team as the most prominent reason for the early exit, especially compared to the local team, which made a great performance and achieved the Arab Cup a few weeks ago. West Ham star, Sofiane Feghouli, the star of Galatasaray, and a number of other professionals who failed to make the difference, such as goalkeeper Balqiblah and Ramez Zarroqi.
The reasons why professionals “betrayed” their fans may be due to the great pressure placed on them by their European clubs, to stay away from injuries and contacts, which keep players away from entering into difficult encounters breakthrough with full focus.