Mauritania coach Corentin Martins believes his team must forget their disappointing debut in the Africa Cup of Nations as they prepare to face Angola.
Mauritania were thrashed 4-1 by Mali on Monday and now face an Angola side buoyed by their 1-1 draw with Tunisia in their opening Group E fixture.
“The Angola match is very important for our journey. We noticed through their performances that they are a strong team on the collective and individual level,” Martins said in quotes reported by Goal.com “We have the desire to achieve a great result.”
Speaking about the loss to Mali, Martins added: “We had fear of the unknown because we are in the first match of a huge competition. We have to forget the Mali result and look forward to Angola.”
Angola coach Srdjan Vasiljevic was delighted by his side’s well-deserved draw with Tunisia, Djlama’s 73rd-minute equaliser cancelling out Youssef Msakni’s first-half penalty.
“We got a good result after enormous difficulties in the preparation period. We want to play good football and compete with the best African teams,” Vasiljevic said.
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