Mauritania in good shape for TotalEnergies AFCON – Da Rosa

Mauritania Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa said his team is in good shape ahead of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021.

Da Rosa, the former Tanzania’s Simba Coach, was last month appointed to lead Mauritania in their second consecutive AFCON appearance.

Mauritania is placed alongside Tunisia, Mali and Gambia in Group F. Speaking to CAFonline.com, Da Rosa said the 10 days camp they had in Abu Dhabi, UAE have been very fruitful for his side.

“The preparations have been very good, and we have already played two friendly matches against Burkina Faso and Gabon. Yes, we have to correct some things, but generally we are satisfied with several aspects of the team,” added the coach.

Against Burkina Faso, Mauritania settled for a goalless draw in their first friendly last weekend, while they managed another 1-1 draw against Gabon on Tuesday.

“We can do many good things offensively and still need to tighten defensively. We will be ready for the AFCON 2021 because we know what is at stake,” added the experienced coach who also led Simba SC to the 2020/2021 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League quarterfinals.

Mauritania failed to make it out of the group stage at their AFCON debut in Egypt 2019. Interestingly they also had Tunisia and Mali in their group then.

But Da Rosa makes it clear that they will be all out to try and perform better than the team performed in the AFCON 2019 where they lost to Mali 4-1 and picked goalless draws against Tunisia and Angola. "We are hungry to make it out of the group and battle in the knockout stage," concluded Da Rosa.

Photos @ffrim