Ngato confident Central African side can qualify

DAR ES SALAAM: CENTRAL African Republic (CAR) coach Sébastien Ngato remains optimistic about his team’s chances of turning their fortunes around despite a disappointing start in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2024.

The Central African Republic has played two matches in Group B, suffering defeats in both. They lost to Burkina Faso 4-2 and then to Mauritania 1-0, with both matches held at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

In the post-match interview, Coach Ngato expressed pride in his players’ performance. He emphasised that they have learned valuable lessons from these matches and still believe they can succeed in the competition.

“I am proud of the level shown by our players. We still have opportunities in the remainder of the competition. We learned lessons from our match against Mauritania and will strive to use them to present a positive image of Central African football,” Ngato stated.

He maintained that there is still a chance to qualify for the next round: “We will give our best effort in the next two matches to advance as far as possible,” he insisted.

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Regarding his team’s overall performance, Ngato noted that they experienced periods of pressure and created several chances, but Mauritania’s early goal proved to be decisive.

“We created chances in attack and tried to reach the opponent’s goal, but we couldn’t capitalise on them. The opponent was stronger and they scored an early goal in the first half,” he acknowledged before shifting focus to potential solutions. “We need to concentrate on the mistakes we made and work to correct them moving forward. Not everything was bad and our players performed well too. We will prepare for the next match to address what can be improved,” he added.

Currently, the Central African Republic sits at the bottom of the group without a single point. Their chances of qualifying now depend on the results from their upcoming matches against Madagascar on Wednesday and Tanzania on Saturday.

Mauritania’s coach, Garay López, remarked that the victory was more than just three points; it was a validation of their efforts.

“It was difficult to win against the Central African Republic. We aimed to play attacking football and managed to score after creating several scoring chances,” López explained, acknowledging the quality of the opposition.

The win moved Mauritania to second place with four points, but their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage depend on their upcoming match against Burkina Faso. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso faces a challenge against Madagascar as well.

However, López recognised some shortcomings in their performance.

“We have a busy and challenging schedule in this tournament. After each match, we need to rotate players and adapt our playing style. We pursued victory in this match to avoid elimination. The pressure was high on the players. While our performance wasn’t ideal, we selected those who could deliver. We will work on improving our performance in the next match.”