CHAN: CAR will play for pride against Tanzania – Ngato

Central African Republic coach Sebastien Ngato has pledged to give the nation their first point of the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) when they face hosts Tanzania in their final group game at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday.

CAR, who were making their debut in the CHAN being co-hosted in East Africa, have lost all their opening matches ahead of their Taifa Stars battle. They lost their opener 4-2 against Burkina Faso, lost 1-0 against Mauritania, and 2-0 against Madagascar.

“Regarding our last match, we would first like to apologize to our fans and our people for the results we achieved, which we didn’t expect,” he said as quoted by CAFOnline.com.

“We wanted to see how things are done in this competition, and we had to be strong, compete with the other teams, and live up to their standards. I think we didn’t play the previous matches to discover the competition, as we said. We actually played hard.

“Our last match is our farewell. At least it shouldn’t remain that way. As a matter of honor, we should return with at least one point. It’s true that we didn’t achieve our goal in the tournament, but we must get a point in our last match, even though we’re playing against the host country. We know that football will always be football, and we will try to play our farewell match.”

Despite three defeats, Ngato is keen for his players to end with their heads held high. “As a coach, I say that we will play comfortably against Tanzania and try to exploit our strengths,” he said.

“The players have rested and regained their capabilities over the past two days. We will not play with frustration, but with the same determination. This is football, and what has happened has happened.

“Tanzania will be under pressure and we will play without it. If we think about the fans, things will not work out for us. We will depend on the players and will not think about the fans.”