Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Tunisia, Angola rule out playing for a draw

Tunisia and Angola said they would play to win when they meet in the African Nations Cup on Thursday, even though a draw will send both sides into the quarter-finals.

'I never look to finish second,' said Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre, adding that he would not pay any attention to the result of the other Group D match between Senegal and South Africa, who meet at the same time in Kumasi.

'We have a match tomorrow (Thursday) which we want to win,' he told reporters.

'If we play for a draw, we could give Angola a chance to get near our area and snatch a goal.'

But Lemerre added: 'The strategy at the beginning of the match is not always the same at the end.'

The Frenchman also said he wanted to finish top of the group so his team could stay in Tamale for their quarter-final.

The teams go into the match with four points each from their first two games while South Africa and Senegal have one apiece.

'Every time we go onto the pitch, we go to win even if the other team is better,' said Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves.

'We are not going to play for a draw, we will play for a win although it would be difficult,' said Goncalves, whose team produced a shock 3-1 win over Senegal on Sunday.

'It's going to be another very difficult game against title candidates. We've prepared very well, we believe we can play a great game and the pressure is on Tunisia.'

by soccernet.espn.go.com

0 comments: