Algerian coach Madjid Bougherra has hailed his players for obeying his instructions that helped them to become the first side to book a place in the knock-out stage of the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN).
The trainer expressed his delight after the host nation's 1-0 victory over Ethiopia at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on Tuesday night helped them to secure a place in the last eight.
Bougherra, whose side now sits top of Group A with six points from two games, lauded the Desert Foxes for their efforts on the night and at the tournament so far.
"I want to congratulate and salute our players after the victory over Ethiopia. The players respected all the instructions. We had some opportunities that we did not seize and we found difficulties in the second half especially since Ethiopia were also strong but eventually we won. We are currently ranked first in the group and we must prepare for the next match," Bougherra said in the post-match press conference.
Algeria will be up against Mozambique in their last Group A fixture on Saturday, January 21 at the same venue and will be looking to finish the group stages on a high.
Bougherra who captained Algeria at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil said, "We played with an offensive system that puts pressure on the opponent. We must follow such tactical plans to go as far as possible in the tournament."
"During this match in the first half, we were better on the left side than on the right side which reflects something we worked on in our preparations before the tournament while in Tunisia. We must work more and more. Our players were focused and optimistic, especially the duo of [Houssem Eddine] Mrezigue and [Zakaria] Draoui who recovered several balls in the game."
Bougherra is proud of the diversity in the way the Algerian plays, "We have a team that plays with five different tactical plans and the preparations in Tunisia were so rich for us and we worked on all of them."
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Bougherra applauded the support of his country by former players and their standing by him during the CHAN tournament.
He said, "I had the opportunity to meet Ziani, Madjer and several players. This is a good thing. Our players must feel that everyone is behind them like the former players and the fans."
Algeria's game against Mozambique will be played at the same venue at 1900hrs GMT.
