Mali coach foresees difficult Algeria

Adama Niane © Getty Images

Mali under-23 head coach, Cheick Oumar Kone, is anticipating that his team could come up face-to-face with a “difficult” Algerian side at the Caroline Faye Stadium in M’Bour on Wednesday.

Oumar Kone’s assertion comes after his men suffered a 2-3 defeat in the hands of their Nigerian counterparts on Sunday while Algeria and Egypt played out a one-all draw in the other Group B match.

Apparently knowing that his team are with no point and could be heading for an early exit, Oumar Kone said the Algerians “beatable.”

But he stated that Mali will need to put up a better performance than they did against Nigeria in a game where they were three goals down in the first half before scoring twice in the restart.

“Our next game against Algeria will be equally difficult. They are beatable but we have to avoid mistakes like we did,” said Oumar Kone to Cafonline.com.

The Malian trainer attributed their loss to Nigeria to their poor start to the game as well as failure to be accurate in front of goal.

“We started very badly, but in the second half we played collectively. We lifted up our game and scored twice. We could have equalized but we failed to convert some of the chances. Such is football; you get punished if you fail to take your chances,” he said.

Mali are currently bottom of the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations Group B with no point.