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Reigning African champions, the Algerians missed their debut in CAN-2022 by only winning a draw (0-0) against the modest team from Sierra Leone. The Fennecs must absolutely pull themselves together on Sunday against Equatorial Guinea. For its part, Côte d’Ivoire, even if it did not shine in its first match, can already qualify if they win over the Leone Stars.
Defending champion, Algeria was held in check by modest Sierra Leone (0-0) for its debut in CAN-2022. Faced with the impeccable discipline of Leone Stars and a goalkeeper in a state of grace, Djamel Belmadi’s men did not show much.
“We are confident”
Against Equatorial Guinea, Sunday January 16 at 8 p.m., the Fennecs have plenty of means to catch up and make people forget this poor performance. The Algerian coach wanted to be reassuring at a press conference on the eve of this meeting: “You know our objective. We are confident. It’s not a draw that will change that. A draw can disturb you if you don’t “If you hadn’t had chances and if you had conceded a lot of chances. If you look at our attacking technical statistics, we have almost the best statistics. But we didn’t materialize all that.”
Even if on paper, Equatorial Guinea does not seem really dangerous, Djamel Belmadi does not want to underestimate these opponents, even less after the draw against Sierra Leone. “We are not going to meet painters with all the respect I have for this profession. They have good football players,” he summed up.
Especially since Equatorial Guinea was not ridiculous against the other heavyweight of group E, Ivory Coast. The Nzalang Nacional was combative and only lost with the score of 1-0. “We lost the first match against Côte d’Ivoire, but we played very well during this meeting,” insisted coach Juan Micha at a press conference. “We are going to fight to win these three points, we did not come here to take vacations but to win matches,” he added.
“Qualify as soon as possible”
For its part, even if it performed the minimum service for its first match, Côte d’Ivoire is at the top of group E and can already qualify for the round of 16 if it wins Sunday over Sierra Leone.
Confident, the players approach this meeting without any particular pressure, like Serge Aurier. “We got into the competition very well. The most important thing was to take the three points. We know that we have to work to improve. Our objective is to qualify as quickly as possible and after that it will be a match gala”, explained the Ivorian defender at a press conference.
????️ Press conference by Serge Aurier, before Ivory Coast-Sierra-Leone:
“We entered the competition well. For us it was the most important. We did some good things and some bad things. There is the second match coming up and we will do our best to win. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/TsSeMqYEs1
— Chronicles 225 (@Chronicles225) January 15, 2022
The French coach Patrice Beaumelle can count on this good state of mind and on a team in good shape. “We have had four days to recover and we have no cases of Covid. This will allow us to prepare well for the match against Sierra Leone because we must continue our march forward”, he declared visibly very serene.
With AFP
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