A usually jovial Conde Chiquinho appeared to be visibly disheartened after his side let go of a lead to draw 2-2 after coming from a goal down against Egypt in their opening TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 match.

A late penalty conversion by Mohamed Salah saw Egypt escape a shock defeat to salvage a point.

“We were so close. The result was almost in our hands. However, it is up to us to work harder so that this does not happen again”, said a disappointed Chiquinho.

After conceding in as early as the second minute, Chiquinho says the goal did not startle his side.

“The opening goal did not disturb our plan. It actually it motivated us to play even harder”.

Concluding his remarks on the match, Chiquinho said even though they managed to hold the former champions to a draw, he was not satisfied with getting a point in a match that he feels could have gone their way.

 “I feel like I have completed my task. We are sad and that is a good thing because we are not satisfied with what we got today” concluded the Mozambican tactician.