Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet has played down concerns over Tunisia’s attacking numbers ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations round-of-16 clash at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca on Saturday.
Both teams progressed as runners-up from their respective groups, but Tunisia arrived with a stronger scoring record, netting six goals in three matches, while Mali found the net just twice.
Despite that contrast, Saintfiet insists his side remains calm and confident going into the knockout encounter.
Speaking before the match, the Belgian tactician acknowledged Tunisia’s quality in attack but made it clear Mali are prepared to handle the challenge.
“Tunisia are one of those dangerous sides, and we have already talked about that. They have a very good forward line, if not checked can be dangerous, but we are not worried about that because we have good quality players who can stop them,” said Saintfiet at Mohammed V in Casablanca.
He further highlighted Mali’s defensive consistency across competitions.
“We have good defenders, we have a good goalkeeper, we conceded one goal during the AFCON qualifiers for Morocco in six games, and during the World Cup qualification campaign, in six matches, we only conceded two goals.
“So, we are a good side, because if you look at the previous statistics as mentioned above, we have been very solid defensively. We know Tunisia will not be easy but we are ready for the task.”
Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi, however, admitted his team must improve defensively.
“Yes, it is true, we have not been good enough, we have not been efficient enough, but our focus was to qualify for this stage, which we managed to do,” said Trabelsi.
“We know we haven’t given our fans enough but qualifying was the most important thing and now we can focus on producing our best level against Mali.”
Mali remain unbeaten in four previous AFCON meetings with Tunisia, all in the group stage, making Saturday’s tie their first knockout showdown.
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