Mauritania chasing first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON win against Angola

Mauritania will play Angola in their second group game of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d'Ivoire 2023 at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Saturday, 20 January.

The Lions of Chinguetti failed to win their 7th TotalEnergies CAF AFCON game against Burkina Faso in their opening game.

Angola who held Algeria to a scoring draw will go into this fixture as the favorite but head coach, Pedro Gonçalves is not underrating Mauritania in no way.

Amir Abdou knows the threats in the Angolan team but is optimistic his side will pull a surprise to win their first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON game in their history.

Pedro Gonçalves - Angola head coach 

“Our mentality and vision is the same going into this game. One of the aspects we have been able to work on is to adapt quickly to the rhythm of the game and we are going to focus on this because at the end of the day we must get the results that we need."

“High capacity game and we must embrace what comes with it against Mauritania. We are focused on performing well in tomorrow’s game. I have followed the efforts of Mauritania in recent times and how they have performed but my focus is on my team and how they will perform.

“We are in evolution and making sure we have a better performance is part of the strategy. Introducing different and better strategy is something that we are working on and this strategy is one that will allow us have a better and decent game against Mauritania.

“This is a very competitive opponent we are going to face as they are well organised. We are going to make an impact and win against Mauritania".

Amir Abdou - Mauritania head coach

“I trust the group and trust their work ethic. We have attacking players that are really not experienced but they must find solutions on the pitch . Angola has individual players who are very good and has players in big leagues in Europe. They are capable of playing different formations and we must find solutions to all this on the pitch."

“We have a team that is very slow for the moment but we must find a way to make the difference in recent matches and this AFCON is no exception. Tomorrow is day of truth and hope we are going to smile with a big win against Angola".

Kick-off at Stade de la paix de Bouaké on Saturday is at 17h00 GMT.