By Trevor Kramer in PE
DR Congo's Claude Le Roy is expecting a very tough encounter against Niger in their second AFCON group match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Thursday.
The French former Cameroon, Senegal, and Ghana coach admitted to being massively impressed by Menas' showing in their opener, even though they lost the match, 1-0 to Mali.
At a press conference in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, he said: "I was surprised by the huge resistance of Niger even if we know (players like) Moussa Maazou and Modibo Sidibe, as well as number eight (Fatoghoma Kourouma), a left footer and number 14, (Issoufou Boubacar) another left-footed player.
"They had a good game plan, they knew exactly what they were doing and they created some opportunities to score.
"I know Gernot (Rohr) for a long, long, long time, he has built a very good team, that's why we know it won't be easy for us tomorrow."
He added: "We had two targets before the competition - in terms of behaviour to be an example, to be perfect - and after that on the field in terms of quality of football, to practice the football I like, which is offensive football.
"We will try to find a solution - we did that for the first game and we'll try to repeat that for the second game but it won't be easy.
"They have some players that can create problems for us. We have worked a lot, studied them on videos, and I watched their game, so we know it won't be easy."
The Leopards fought back from two goals down in their opener against Ghana to claim a creditable 2-2 draw and Le Roy is hoping they can go one better, and secure all three points in their next match.
"It is our dream to qualify for the quarter-finals so we need to make a result against Mali and Niger.
"Our first result, we capitalised which gave us confidence but with confidence we must not become blind."
DRC captain Tresor Mputu added that he was delighted to be back at AFCON after they failed to qualify for the last three tournaments.
"I'm very proud to come back seven years after missing out on AFCON. Our target is to try to win and also to try to learn."
To comment on this story please email me at trevor.kramer@teamtalkmedia.co.za
Post A Comment!
Be the first to post a comment on this story