Nur Mohamed Amin, the head coach of Somalia, lamented the errors that contributed to their loss to host Algeria by a score of 2-0 on Saturday night at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers in their opening match of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

In their first-ever game in continental football, Algeria’s debutants were defeated by goals in either half from captain Moslem Anatouf.

“We wanted to win the opening match against Algeria but football is a sport with three results; a win, loss or a draw. Algeria won and that is football,” the tactician said.

“We saw some mistakes that we will try to correct in the next game and try to win.

“Our ambition is to go for victory in the next assignment,” further opined the tactician after the game.

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Nur also said that the short amount of time his players had to train as a team contributed to their loss, but he added that as the days go by, they are beginning to work together more effectively.

“All our players are students and we selected them from school tournaments.

“They did not have the chance to play a lot of friendly matches and we were just together for three months for preparation,” the tactician noted.

Next Tuesday’s match between Somalia and Congo will be their last chance to advance to the round of eight, so another loss would be devastating.