Two 'shock groups' conflict within the sixteenth spherical of the 2023 African Cup of Nations on Monday as Cape Verde face Mauritania. Each have exceeded expectations in Ivory Coast.
“Mauritania is a tough opponent. This crew confirmed cohesion and high quality,” mentioned Blue Sharks of Cape Verde coach Bubista. The island nation topped Group B with African giants Ghana and Egypt.
Bubista added: “Their victory in opposition to Algeria is nicely deserved. They’ve a strong protection. This can be a really tactical encounter and we should play our playing cards nicely and never falter within the final 4.”
Mauritania achieved their first ever AFCON victory to succeed in their first knockout spot. “Cape Verde is a lovely crew. They rating lots of targets and likewise concede, a loophole that we’ll attempt to exploit,” mentioned Mauritania coach Amir Abdou.
The groups are assured forward of their milestone match. “We’re conscious of the significance of those competitions. For us that is one thing distinctive,” mentioned Cape Verdean striker Tiago Correia.
“We’re centered on the identical objective, we solely have victory in sight,” he added.
Mauritania defender Lamine Ba commented: “It’s true that we had a nasty begin, however now a brand new competitors begins.
“We all know that the Mauritanian authorities have achieved a number of issues in order that our supporters might be current throughout this match, and we’re counting closely on them,” he mentioned.
Each nations acknowledge the uncommon alternative they’ve earned. “I’ve a aggressive group and I do know we’re able to something,” Abdou mentioned.
Cape Verde and Mauritania will pursue their AFCON goals as they go head-to-head on the Félix Houphouët Boigny Stadium, Abidjan on Monday (as we speak) at 6pm (Nigerian time).
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