Mali Coach: 'We Are Not Impressed by Senegal; We Faced Stronger Teams Like Morocco and Tunisia'

Mali coach Tom Saintfiet stated his team possesses great ambition ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final clash against Senegal tomorrow, Friday (17:00 GMT+1). He emphasized that his squad is going through a historic phase, making them confident against any opponent.

During the pre-match press conference, Saintfiet said: "In 2021, I reached the quarter-finals with Gambia against Cameroon, and this is my second quarter-final in four years. The Senegalese team has good players, and I know all their names just as you do, but I am not interested in Senegal; I am only interested in my own team."

The Mali coach continued confidently: "We are here on a mission. We have a dream and we have history, and I believe this is our moment. Mali is the only team that has never won this title, and for Malians, this is our time. The only ones I care about are the Eagles of Mali."

Regarding the opponent, he added: "We know we will face a very strong team, featuring big stars who play at the highest levels, but we are not impressed by that. My players are also big stars and possess all the quality."

He concluded: "We have not lost in this tournament, just like Senegal. Perhaps we have had less luck in scoring goals, but we have faced teams that might be stronger than Senegal, as we played against Tunisia and Morocco."