They are Africa’s best, at the moment. That is what FIFA’s current edition of the Men’s Ranking tells about Algeria. They seat above Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Cape Verde and Ghana. They are also the only African nation present in the world’s top 20 footballing countries.

Five months after their impressive World Cup 2014 adventure in Brazil, Les Fennecs are still going strong. They’ve already qualified for the finals of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations with a perfect record, scoring eight goals and conceding only one in four matches.

The pressure is solely on visitors Ethiopia who are yet to get over the fact that Nigeria controversially denied them from qualifying for Brazil 2014. In the 1950’s and 60’s, the Walias achieved great things on the continent, winning the AFCON in 1962.

In 2013, they ended a 31-year wait to play in the tournament again. Unfortunately for the Ethiopians, they could not go past the group stages. Today, they are in danger of not qualifying for the competition at all. They have already conceded nine goals and have only 3 points from a possible 12. They commenced their qualifying campaign on a wrong note, losing 2-1 to the Algerians in Addis Ababa. Saladin's 95th minute penalty wasn't enough to redeem the Walias from defeat on Matchday 1.

Ahead of Matchday 5, they occupy the bottom of Group B. Beating Algeria is a must for Ethiopia whose last AFCON 2015 qualifier takes place next Wednesday, at home to Malawi.