CHAN: López Garai explains why Mauritania must beat Burkina Faso

Mauritania national team head coach Artiz López Garai has discussed why it will be important for his team to beat Burkina Faso in their TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

The Mourabitounes and the Stallions will meet in what feels less like a group-stage match and more like a knockout final. While Mauritania are sitting second with four points, five less than leaders and hosts Tanzania, Burkina Faso are lying third in Group B with three points.

“The important thing for us is to win the last match. We are in a very strong group, and our final match is against Burkina Faso, who are a good team. We must play well against them, especially as they have good players and had more time than us to prepare for this match,” López Garai said as quoted by CAFOnline.com ahead of the game.

“We must win this match. Recovery has gone well,” he said adding: “Naturally, this is our last match. After a win, a draw, and a loss, we won’t have any more games.

“If we win, we will have seven points and good chances of qualifying. If we don’t win, we will have to wait for other results. That’s why we must win to qualify. If we reach the quarter-finals, we will have enough time to recover well.”

He concluded: “We have played three matches and scored just one goal. Technically, I think we are fine, but we need more attacking options. This is a strong tournament, and the teams are at a similar level. We have one last chance to apply what we have learned and prepared for on the pitch. We must be in the right positions to win.”

Mauritania and Burkina Faso will need a win from the game to keep alive hopes of reaching the knockout stages.