Mauritania coach Corentin Martins believes his team must forget their disappointing debut in the Africa Cup of Nations as they prepare to face Angola.

Mauritania were thrashed 4-1 by Mali on Monday and now face an Angola side buoyed by their 1-1 draw with Tunisia in their opening Group E fixture.

"The Angola match is very important for our journey. We noticed through their performances that they are a strong team on the collective and individual level," Martins said in quotes reported by Goal.com "We have the desire to achieve a great result."

Speaking about the loss to Mali, Martins added: "We had fear of the unknown because we are in the first match of a huge competition. We have to forget the Mali result and look forward to Angola."

Angola coach Srdjan Vasiljevic was delighted by his side's well-deserved draw with Tunisia, Djlama's 73rd-minute equaliser cancelling out Youssef Msakni's first-half penalty.

"We got a good result after enormous difficulties in the preparation period. We want to play good football and compete with the best African teams," Vasiljevic said.