Khartoum, Sudan - With his team losing its opening match 2-1 to South Africa, Ghana's coach Herbert Addo has promised a rebound at the 2011 African Nations Championship (CHAN) which started in Sudan on Friday with 16 teams participating. The home-based Black Stars scored first in the match in Madany on Saturday, but the players lost focus and allowed South Africa to come from behind to win the game.

Addo said, however, that it is not over for the team as it will struggle to win its next two matches, against Zimbabwe and Niger, in the first round.

“There is still two matches left still and we can still make it, if we win the upcoming games,' Addo said.

He blamed his team's loss on the poor playing surface as well as injuries by his boys.

'We could have done better here and you know the playing field was not suitable for football really, I am not using that as an excuse after-all it was the same for South Africa but we picked up two injuries which are largely because of the poor playing surface,' he said.

In a related development, Algeria has said it is satisfied with its 2-0 win over Uganda in their group A opener in Khartoum also on Saturday.

Algeria's coach Abdelhak Benchika said grabbing the full three points against Uganda was the incentive needed by his players to go far in the competition, reserved for players in the continent's domestic leagues.

“The three points taken today is very important.Psychologically,  victory in the opener allows the team to gain more confidence. I would say that we did the basics and the players have applied to take the ball to play closer to the ground,” he told CAF's official website after the match.

Algeria next plays Gabon Tuesday in Khartoum.

Pana 06/02/2011