U-17 AFCON: Coulibaly bears no regrets in rotating squad

Mali’s head coach Soumaila Coulibaly says he bears no regrets for rotating his squad in their third-place play-off 2-1 defeat to Burkina Faso at the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Annaba on Thursday.

The tactician says he wanted each of his players to have a feel of playing at the top level, and says they picked their lessons and will leave Algeria a better team than they came in, especially with the World Cup in mind.

“I do not regret rotating my squad. I intended to change a lot because I have a competitive squad. Other players needed to play too so I can decide which squad I will take to the World Cup,” Coulibaly explained.

He says he was pleased with what he saw from his players and his only regret was that they could not translate their performance into goals.

“They held on very well in the first half and we only conceded from a penalty. We know that we have a very strong team with good potential and everyone gave their best,” he added.

He says their failure to close out games early especially in their last two games is a lesson they will take, especially heading to the World Cup. He notes this was the major difference in both their semi-final defeat to Morocco and Thursday night’s loss against Burkina Faso.

“If we can score early, it can make things easier for us. Yes, we dominate the games, but football is about scoring. We will try to improve this ahead of our next assignments,” the tactician stated.

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Coulibaly’s next focus will be to strengthen the team ahead of the World Cup and has disclosed he might bring in some new faces.

“The World Cup is another level and we will have to prepare well and strengthen the squad. We have to add some few players who will improve our competitiveness,” the tactician stated.

This was Mali’s first ever loss in the play-off, having won the two previous times it had participated.