South African coach Rulani Mokwena started his reign at MC Alger with a goalless draw against rivals USM Alger in the first Algiers Derby of the season on Sunday night.
Mokwena’s charges had their campaign delayed by a week due to a number of their players competing in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) with Algeria, as they were set to face CR Belouizdad.
Coach Mokwena handed full debuts to new signings Goalkeeper Alexis Guendouz and Aimen Bouguerra while fellow new arrival Sid Ahmed Aissaoui was only named on the bench.
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Guendouz was called into action inside the opening 15 minutes as the MC Alger goalkeeper produced a fine stop to keep the scores level after an error from Mohamed Zougrana.
MC Alger should have been ahead ten minutes before the halftime break when the ball dropped kindly for Marwane Khelif in the box, but full-back sent his effort blazing over the crossbar from six yards out.
It was more of the same in the second half as both sides struggled to create clear-cut openings, much to the frustration of both coaches.
That proved to be the trend for the remainder of the second period as the first Algiers Derby of the season ends without a goal, with the two sides settling for a share of the spoils.
Mokwena’s Alger will be back in action against Ben Aknoun in their next Ligue 1 encounter.
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