‘Why not us?’: Mauritania eye more Afcon history

THE beautiful unpredictability of the Africa Cup of Nations has been on full display at this year's tournament with upsets galore and several high-profile early exits. Mauritania were responsible for one of the biggest of those shocks when their 1-0 win against twotime champions Algeria in the final game of Group D eliminated Les Verts.

The victory was as significant for Mauritania as it was for Algeria.

The Lions of Chinguetti’s first ever Afcon win, achieved at the ninth attempt, ensured that the north-west African nation will make their debut in the last 16.

Mauritania had seemed down and out after narrow defeats by Burkina Faso and Angola, but a knockout match with Cape Verde now awaits at Abidjan’s Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium today at 19:00.

“It is amazing for us to reach the next round for the first time, a great feeling for the team to know we have made the people of Mauritania happy,” centre-back Lamine Ba told BBC Sport Africa.

“We received a lot of good videos and messages on social media — I’m sorry I can’t reply to everyone. Also, a lot of Mauritanians live in Ivory Coast and it has been great to see them here.

“We enjoyed this moment, but in this competition you cannot spend time thinking about the result - we are already focused on the next game and are working towards passing through the next round.”

Ba made his debut for Mauritania in 2022 and his first taste of the Afcon finals has been one to remember.

The former Paris St-Germain academy prospect played a vital role in repelling Algeria’s attack as his side held on for arguably the biggest result in the country’s history.

“We feel proud because it’s Algeria and before the game nobody thought we could do it because we lost the first two games,” Franceborn Ba said.

“But we played well in those games, even though we didn’t win. Honestly, I knew we could do it against Algeria.”

Mauritania have been led impressively by coach Amir Abdou, who helped minnows Comoros reach the last 16 on their debut at the finals two years ago.

The Frenchman has repeated the trick with the team ranked 105th in the world and Ba says the squad are enjoying being guided by Abdou.

“Our coach is really a man of the people,” Ba, who plays his club football in Croatia, explains.

“He is a leader who makes his players believe, like Jose Mourinho. We want to give our all for him and he is very clear about the idea of how he wants to play — it is up to us to follow this.

“He showed what he can do before with Comoros. For sure, this is a very good coach.”

For Ba, the experience of reaching the last 16 was especially emotional as he was sharing the pitch with his older brother El Hadji.