Martins : Our dream is still alive

With two matches left to go in the qualification campaign for the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon, Mauritania find themselves in an unlikely spot: with a chance of qualifying for the showpiece event of African football. Even more impressive is that the country of four million people have done it in a Group M against Cameroon, South Africa and Gambia, with the former two significantly higher in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking than Les Mourabitounes.

Remarkably, after four matches, the team from the Maghreb Region in the northwest corner of the continent are just one point behind table-topping Cameroon, but more importantly four ahead of South Africa, with Gambia a further point behind. The man widely credited with the upturn in Mauritanian fortunes is former France international and long-time player Corentin Martins, who spoke to FIFA.com recently about the country’s unprecedented success and whether their dreams can come true.

Having previously coached the then-named Quimper Cornouaille Football Club, a low-tier team in the French league system, and having had a stint as caretaker coach of Brest, the 46-year-old was thrown into the deep end of African football in October 2014 when he took over Mauritania – a team that has only ever played a bit-part on the continent.

Despite a 1-0 loss at Cameroon to start their qualifying campaign, it was clear that the team might be a side to be reckoned with as the Indomitable Lions needed a last-gasp goal by Vincent Aboubakar to secure the three points. Martins looked back …

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