9 February 2011
Having seen his side breeze into the knockout stages of the 2011 African Nations Championship (CHAN), Sudan coach Mohamed Abdallah says the best is yet to come from his charges.
The CHAN hosts have recorded 1-0 victories over Gabon and Uganda in Group A, which mean they cannot finish outside the top two spots in the pool with a Saturday meeting with Algeria still to come.
However, Abdallah says his side need to be more clinical in front of goal in they are to go all the way in the competition.
We create a lot of chances but cannot score. It is also due to the mentality of my players, who want to score classic goals to appease the fans. I am hoping to work on that before our next game, Abdallah said.
Sudan played just one striker up-front, something which had caused surprise given that they are competing on home soil.
We played the 4-5-1 formation and we made some tactical changes to keep the result intact. The aim was to defend the goal and to ease pressure of my players. Our goalkeeper also pulled some spectacular saves.
This is the fifth successive game that we have not conceded a goal and we try to improve match after match, the coach said, before adding that he expects another victory over the Algerians on Saturday.
We will give it our best. We want to win all our matches and will play with the same mentality.
Uganda coach Bobby Williamson says the exodus of the country’s top talent abroad means they will always struggle in CHAN, a tournament that is only open to players who ply their trade in their domestic League.
Until the players stop moving, we will always struggle in competition like this. About nine players who helped us in the qualifiers have left to join other leagues in other countries. You cannot be at the same level if you miss such key players, Williamson said.
That said, the Scot added that he was pleased with the performance of his side against Sudan, and that all that was lacking was a goal.
We played very well but gave a bad goal, which was a good one for Sudan. We never created enough chances and their goalkeeper was better, he said.
Meanwhile, Algeria midfielder Kaled Lemmouchia says his side were not ruthless enough in allowing Gabon to score a last-minute equaliser in their 2-2 draw on Tuesday. It means the north Africans go into Saturday’s match knowing they could be overhauled in second-place if they lose and Gabon beat Uganda.
It was an avoidable mistake on our part, he told Cafonline. The win ate into our head and we were not vigilant in the end. We were distracted somehow and we allowed the Gabonese to steal the ball and score.
The team is young and inexperienced and it takes competitions like CHAN to get the experience.
Gabon goalkeeper Stephane Bitseki says a red card in the first half for Johan Lengoualama had unsettled the players, but he was pleased with the manner his in which they fought back.
At the time, it felt like an injustice, but we pulled ourselves together, he told Cafonline.
We arrived here with a very high morale because CHAN is a perfect opportunity to players to join the international stage. Gabonese have character and it is not for nothing that we are neighbours with Cameroon.
We really came here to prove something ahead of next years Africa Cup of Nations, which we will co-host with Equatorial Guinea. We are young ambassadors of Gabon football.
