Amir Abdou hopes Mauritania can be ‘spoilsports’ in Africa Cup of Nations

Head coach Amir Abdou hopes Mauritania can be “spoilsports” at the Africa Cup of Nations ahead of their opener against Burkina Faso in Bouake.

Ahead of Tuesday’s contest, Abdou recognises their opponents, who have reached the semi-finals in two of the last three editions, and 2019 champions Algeria are favourites to progress from Group D.

While Mauritania have yet to record a win in their past two appearances in the competition, Abdou senses his side and Angola have nothing to lose as they seek to upset the odds.

Mauritania are ready to stun Africa in the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023! @ffrim pic.twitter.com/SSeZT51PNM
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 13, 2024

“As an outsider, the favourite is Algeria, there’s no contest,” Abdou told reporters. “Burkina Faso have always been there in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

“These are teams that are always present at the competition. We’ll be the outsiders along with Angola, so we’ll be trying to be the spoilsports.

“We want to have an interesting tournament, and avoid the troubles Mauritania had in the last two editions. That’s our aim: to go and take on the big boys and why not reach the last 16?”

Despite Burkina Faso’s excellent recent record in reaching the latter stages of this competition, the 2013 finalists have never won their opening match with five draws and seven defeats.

His team might be favourites to beat Mauritania but Burkina Faso boss Hubert Velud is taking nothing for granted.

“We will have to be careful, the slightest mistake will be fatal,” he said. “We will make sure to apply ourselves as much as possible to achieve a result.”