Central African Republic (CAR) and Mauritania meet for the first time at the TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) with a Group B clash in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
Central African Republic are playing their second game against West African opponents, having lost their first game against Burkina Faso 4-2.
Mauritania face a tournament debutant for the third time, having lost both previous games against Burundi (3-2) and Guinea (1-0) in 2014 and 2018 respectively.
Mauritania are playing their 12th game at the finals and face a 12th different team.
This is Mauritania’s third game against Central African opponents; they lost their previous two matches against Democratic Republic of the Congo (1-0) and Gabon (4-2) in group games in 2014.
Central African Republic – Key Facts
· Began with a 4-2 loss against Burkina Faso in their opening game.
· Sydney Tchbinda scored CAR’s first goal at CHAN, leveling the match 1-1 against Burkina Faso.
· Ange Zoumara also scored, assisted by Nelson Ngaro — the first assist by a CAR player at CHAN.
· CAR held 55.3% possession against Burkina Faso.
· Cyril Boko completed 89.2% of his passes (32 of 37).
· Churbin Basse made a game-high 7 clearances.
· Melky Ndokomandji won four tackles, the most by any player in the game.
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Mauritania – Key Facts
· Winless in their last three CHAN games (D1 L2).
· Failed to score in their last three games, and in eight of their 11 CHAN appearances overall.
· Have started without a win in their first two games for the third time (2014, 2018, and now).
· If they fail to win, they will go through three group games winless for the third time, matching 2014 and 2018 when they lost all three.
· Only one win in 11 CHAN finals games — a 2-0 group stage win over Mali in 2022 (D2 L8).
· Their loss to Tanzania was their 8th at CHAN, 6th by a single goal, and 5th 1-0 defeat.
· Their third group game record at CHAN: P3 W0 L3, losing to Gabon (4-2, 2018), Guinea (1-0, 2020), and Senegal (1-0, 2022).
· Used just 14 players across the first two games; four players started both, nine featured in both.
· Completed only 158 passes against Tanzania, down from 532 against Madagascar.
· Had five shots (two on target) against Tanzania, compared to 11 shots (four on target) vs Madagascar.
· Across both games, six shots on target but no goals scored.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
