CHAN: Mauritania achieved history in CAR win – Garay López

Mauritania coach Garay Ortiz López has hailed the team’s effort after they revived their TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win over debutants Central African Republic in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

Ahmed El Moctar settled a tense Group B contest in the ninth minute, turning in Abdallahi Mahmoud’s cross from close range. The win was of significance for the Mourabitounes: their first of the tournament after a poor start—and only their second-ever victory in CHAN finals history—while leaving CAR facing an early exit after back-to-back defeats.

“I am happy, and so are all the players in the Mauritanian national team after this win. I am also happy for our players who played a good game. It was difficult to win against the Central African Republic, but in the end, we succeeded and achieved victory,” he told reporters as quoted by CAFOnline.com.

“Our match against the Central African Republic was complicated and difficult. We tried to play attacking football and scored after creating four real scoring chances. I encourage the Central African Republic coach because he also did a good job before the match, and I admire their players a lot.”

Despite the victory which moved Mauritania to four points, he said: “We have a busy and difficult schedule in this tournament. After every match, we have to change players and the way we play.

“We sought victory in this match to avoid elimination. The pressure was high on the players. Our performance was not the best, but we chose the ones who could play. We will work on improving our performance in the next match.”

The victory breathed life into Mauritania’s push for a quarter-final berth and ended a barren scoring run that stretched across their opening two fixtures.