Algeria, Tunisia target must-win Maghreb derby

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AFP) - Maghreb neighbours Tunisia and Algeria clash Tuesday in arguably the stand-out first round tie at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, their first meeting in the competition.

Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic has identified this opening Group D game as a must-win affair, with his former team Ivory Coast fancied to top the mini-league.

"The match against Tunisia will determine our future in this competition," asserted the vastly experienced manager.

Algeria are being touted as one of the sides that could make a deep impact at the 2013 Cup.

Champions in 1990, the Desert Foxes saw off Ivory Coast with Halilhodzic in charge in a quarter-final extra-time win in 2010, going on to finish fourth.

"If we get to the quarter-finals you never know what can happen, but we have to get there first and it starts with a positive result from our outing against Tunisia."

Rated the second best team on the continent in FIFA's January rankings behind the Ivorians, Algeria tuned up the competition with a goalless draw against South Africa in Soweto.

Young Valencia midfielder Sofiane Feghouli is one of the rising stars in an inexperienced squad captained by Medhi Lacen from La Liga's Getafe.

Algeria made it to the finals by overcoming Gambia and Libya, the original hosts of the 2013 Nations Cup, in qualifiers.

Like Algeria, Tunisia have also experienced Nations Cup glory, lifting the title on home soil in 2004.

They have mixed memories of playing in South Africa, having made it to the final here in 1996 only to lose out to the hosts in the final.

The Carthage Eagles made last-eight exits in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and suffered a first-round knock out in 2010 despite not losing.

Coach Sami Trabelsi, who won the African Nations Championship for home-based players in Sudan in 2011, has set his sights on a minimum target of reaching the quarter-finals.

"My players are working really hard and I believe we can go far -- maybe even to the decider again," he remarked, referring to the 1996 final in which he played.

Tunisia owe their presence at the 2013 Cup to an away-goal defeat of Sierra Leone in qualifying.

One of their stars is Youssef Msakni, the creative midfielder known as 'Little Mozart'.

The 22-year-old has just moved from Tunis-based Esperance to Qatari club Lakhouya, and is a key figure in Trabelsi's team.

Msakni made his mark, twice, in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea last year.

His late goal enabled Tunisia to win their opening game against Morocco, and he set his team on the path to victory over Niger in their second game.

That was enough to ensure Tunisia made it through to the quarter-finals, where they fell to an extra-time defeat by Ghana.

Tunisians have been raving about Msakni for several years, and he travels to South Africa intent to impress.