AFCON 2023: Algeria Seek Redemption Against Mauritania

Algeria, in chase of their first win of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cote d’Ivoire, will take to the field to battle Mauritania at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Tuesday night.

Mauritania have lost all two games and are without a win, but Coach Amir Abdou insisted his side will put in everything to get their first historic win in the competition.

But his Algerian counterpart, Djamel Belmadi, knew their qualification depends on the game and they can’t afford to disappoint their fans back home.

“We are going to have a very important game against the favourite of this group. It is going to be a very complicated game and we know we are going to play against a very good team. This is a team that has a lot of high quality players. We are not here to distribute points, we are here to do our best and we will do everything possible to be at the right level.

“We do acknowledge the level of the opponent. What we are looking for as Mauritania is our first victory. Algeria is looking for the title, but we are looking for the victory,” Amir Abdou told cafonline.com.

Djamel Belmadi insisted it is a decisive game for his team.

“It’s a decisive match, let’s call a spade a spade. Against Burkina we only conceded a corner, they only arrived once in our area. The psychological motivation to come back does not surprise me, I know my team, we don’t want to leave the competition.

“We will have to reduce the errors we commit, these are adjustments that we must make. By reducing errors as much as possible it will swing to our side. We can become more prolific, more precise in front of goals,” Djamel Belmadi stated.