Hopeful Algeria battle Mauritania in decisive fixture

The Lions of Chinguetti will file out at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Tuesday to play their final group game in the ongoing African Cup of Nations when they clash with the Desert Foxes.

While already-eliminated Mauritania will play for honour, Algeria, who won the 2019 edition of the competition, will also be out of AFCON if the Desert Foxes fail to secure the maximum three points in the match.

The Algerians have struggled to win in their opening two group games, securing a point each against Burkina Faso and Angola.

The Desert Foxes have not lost a competitive game since the last AFCON.

The Mauritanians gave their best in prior games, but lost all two games and are without a point. Mauritania have now failed to taste victory in any of their eight matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, claiming two draws and losing six.

In both teams’ previous six clashes, Algeria have maintained an unbeaten run against Mauritania with five wins and one draw since March 1985.

Reacting, Mauritania coach, Amir Abdou, said the game would be a complicated one.

“We are going to have a very important game against the favorite 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.”

Also, a Mauritania player, Mouhsine Bodda, said his team was prepared for the game and would approach it with full concentration.

“We’ve noticed that Algeria have not shown their true potential in the games played so far. Have you seen the squad of Algeria? If one is injured, there is another quality available, we know their quality and as I have been saying, we are going to focus on our team and prepare for the game and everything we are going to do will be with concentration. We know how good the Algerian team is but we will make sure we become an obstacle for them,” he said.

On his part, the Algeria coach, Djamel Belmadi, who admitted that the fixture is a decisive match, said his team was not ready to leave the competition.

“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 doesn’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,” Belmadi said.