The Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Group D favorites, Algeria are still chasing their first win of the ongoing competition.
They take to the field to play Mauritania at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Tuesday.
Mauritania have lost all two games and are without a win but head coach, Amir Abdou, has insisted his side will put in everything to get their first historic win in the competition.
“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," Abdou said.
“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."
Mauritania midfielder Mousihne Bodda has said they are unfazed by the Desert Foxes' qualities, promising to become an obstacle to their progress to the next round.
“We’ve noticed that Algeria haven’t shown their true potential in the games played so far. We know how good the Algerian team is but we will make sure we become an obstacle for them,” Bodda said.
As for Algeria, a team that bagged the 2019 title, qualification depends on the game according to their coach Djamel Belmadi who said they can't afford to disappoint their fans back home.
"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," Belmadi said.
Belmadi said his charges must eliminate errors and become more efficient in front of goal.
"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, and more precise in front of goals."
