New hope for Mauritania

Steve Vickers
BBC Sport, Harare

Mauritania's French coach is hoping to make his competitive in 2 years

Who in their right mind would want to play for a national team that has gone eight years without a win and is ranked 175 in the world?

Those are the stark realities of international football for Mauritania, which has discouraged some of the country's best players from wearing their national colours.

Despite these depressing statistics, serious attempts have begun to turn the team into a competitive outfit.

The first step in this attempted renaissance was the appointment of Frenchman Noel Tosi as coach and national technical director in August.

His chances of success would hinge on identifying and convincing talented Mauritanian players scattered around Africa, Europe, and beyond, to play for the national team.

Tosi managed to persuade three foreign-based professionals to come home and play in their 2006 World Cup and Nations Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe.

Two of the players - Tony Tavarez and Dominique Courville - ply their trade in the French second division, and the third, Eric Descombes, is based in the USA.

Initial reluctance

Tavarez, who plays for Tosi's former club Creteil, recently became eligible to play for Mauritania after changing his French nationality.

US-based Eric Descombes has been persuaded to play for Mauritania

Descombes, 32, spent two seasons with Major League side San Jose but had been reluctant to turn out for his national team.

"It's been hard to get motivated, but the spirit is great now - the team had been lacking good leadership from the coaching staff," he said.

"It's a matter of believing. When you're in a spiral of losing games it's hard to push again and put belief in players."

Another key factor in this rebuilding strategy is that they receive substantial government support and this even included a five-day training camp in Paris before the Zimbabwe match.

Although Mauritania were beaten 3-0, they were not disgraced and Tosi aims to build a competitive side within two years.

"We are a little team, with little experience, but the players have big, big hearts," he said.

As well as improving the national side, Tosi has been given the tasks of setting up a national football structure and a youth development programme.

Mauritania's last victory was in 1995 against Guinea Bissau and they failed to score in all six qualifying matches for the 2004 Nations Cup.

But if all goes to plan there just might be better things to come.