Police to investigate AFCON scandal?

Suspicions around a TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 giant being spied on have now reportedly been raised, with police said to be involved. 

Police have questioned a man who piloted a drone over a behind-closed-doors training session held by Algeria ahead of their competition opener against Angola, according to La Vague Verte via SportsBible.

When the side fist noticed the drone hovering over their base in Bouake earlier this week, suspicions that they were potentially being spied on by a rival team are believed to have emerged. 

However, alternative reports suggest that the man who had been operating the drone was from Ivory Coast, and had been paid by Algerian media to capture footage of their national team. 

Les Fennecs boss Djamel Belmadi reportedly requested that his team be filmed as little as possible during the build up to the tournament. 

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Algeria are gearing up for their tournament, a Group clash against the Black Sable Antelopes on Monday evening, with the former heading into the encounter as favourites.

The side captained by UEFA Champions League winner Riyad Mahrez will be looking to correct the errors of the past, after being knocked out at the group stage during the last edition of the continental showpiece, picking up just one point in their three matches. 

This time, however, the side seem ready for the challenge laying ahead of them. 

"Pressure is a normal thing in football but what I can say is we are ready.  Climate won’t be much of a difference. The group is getting on very well but it’s the question of winning matches and we are going to do everything possible to win." Mahrez said per CAF. 

"We have been able to do a very good preparation and we had a good camp. But what will help us to win matches is to perform very well on the pitch and we will show that on Monday," he added. 

Meanwhile, after failing to qualify for the 2021 edition, Angola are returning to AFCON and will be looking to do so with a bang. 

The team's head coach Pedro Goncalves expressed the confidence he has in his team to be victorious against any opposition in their way. 

“This squad has the capacity to win any match. We are here to give as much as we can give to go as far as possible. We would like to be at a higher level in this game," he said. 

Offensively and defensively, we have put in some strategy to help us be competitive.  If we have reached this level you should know that we are a very good side and we can be able to have good results during this competition.

"We believe that we will be able to give the best of ourselves and be happy of what we will do on the field.  It’s true there can be weaknesses in our team but we will also find weakness in the Algerian team and exploit.”