In today’s final group A match of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations competition, both Algeria and Congo U17 men’s national teams are vying for a position in the quarterfinals.
Congo who started their Afcon journey with a defeat to Senegal before they drew 1-1 with Somalia in their last outing will be hoping to get their first victory at the tournament.
Congo will automatically go to the round of eight if they win because they will finish second. If they draw, they will advance as one of the top two teams that finished third.
Kick off is at 21:00 hours at the Stade Nelson Mandela as Congo are seeking to replicate and improve on their last performance, when they reached the semi-finals and came out third in 2011.
Meanwhile, Congo head coach Fabrizio Cesana told Cafonline media that the team is ready to fight and collect maximum points despite facing a tough opponent.
“We will do everything we can to win the match, but we know we are facing a strong Algerian side. We have recovered well from the Somalia match and now the focus is on trying to get this important victory,” said the Congo boss.
Cesana said the team has worked on the mistakes made in the past two games and has tipped the strikers to be clinical on goal.
READ MORE: Dominance by Senegal in Africa explained
“Against Senegal, our players lacked composure in front of goal and in the Somalia match as well, we were not effective. This is something we need to be better at for us to achieve a good result against Somalia,” said the coach.