Niger coach Harouna Doula expressed sorrow following his side's goalless draw with Congo in their first Group E game at the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) on Friday at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Algeria.

Doula wore a crestfallen face as he admitted to the media that his side will have to make changes in the coming days if they are to progress from the group stages.

"This result does not reflect the teams. It is not fair to judge the teams because of this result. There were attempts to score but eventually were not successful. We need to try harder. We will try to do our best to stay in this competition, Doula said.

"Games are always about confidence. We have to teach our players. This result was a setback. We must boost the spirit of our players. We shall try and win our game. This one is behind us now," Doula explained in detail.

"Each match has its own anomalies. We shall not use the same tactics when we face Cameroon in our next game. It is all in the mind. We have to instill confidence in the players. There was an opportunity and we failed to seize it and this is why we have to work on things like this in training."

"We had a balanced game between our defense and offense. We need to improve our offense. The next match will be a final match against Cameroon and we want to win it," said Doula whose side now has one point after one game and needs to win the next one to progress to the quarterfinals.

Doula saluted the Nigerien fans that supported them. He said, "We had a great presence of fans in the stands. I feel at home in Algeria. We saw the people of Oran supporting us and we promise that we shall do our best in our next game."

There is a big population of Nigeriens living in Oran as the two countries are neighbours. Niger face Cameroon on January 24 at the same venue at 1900hrs GMT.