by Since the Ivory Coast hired a French septuagenarian coach – Jean-Louis Gasset – with no experience of African football before the Afcon, only to sack him after their miserable performance in the group stages and former international player but modern manager Emerse Put it in its place. for their last-16 game against Senegal it speaks to the cocktail of incompetence and chaos that is Ivorian football.
And Monday’s pulsating, national morale victory over Senegal’s penalty shootout, which sent the streets of Yamoussoukro into a wintry frenzy in the early hours of Tuesday, doesn’t even hide this fact. Managing the Elephants was an unexpected 40th birthday present for Faé, given to him by FIF, the Ivorian Football Confederation, on January 24, leaving him with just five days of international managerial experience ahead of a high-pressure game against the Afcon champions.
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“It was very challenging [taking up this job]. It was very difficult,” Faé admits. “Morocco [by beating Zambia in their final game] it allowed us to stay in this competition.
“After our terrible [4-0] the defeat to Equatorial Guinea, we had to regain our senses and take advantage of the reserves of the players … I was under a lot of pressure. Senegal were clearly the best. Before we started the game I knew we could face any situation. We tried to move [the game] the way we planned and created opportunities for ourselves.”
The fearlessness with which the Ivorians treated the defending champions, despite going behind in the fourth minute, was in stark contrast to their tepid performance in the group stages against Equatorial Guinea, which angered fans, leading to destruction of property in the vicinity of the Ebimpé Stadium Abidjan.
How things turned around. Going forward Faé is very clear about what he expects from his team. “I want players who get their jerseys wet [with sweat], players who take second chances and redeem themselves. I want to see an Ivory Coast team that represents the country and the people who live there.”
The governance of Ivorian football – or the lack of it, as many would say in the west African country – under Idriss Diallo, the president of FIF, has come under intense scrutiny and criticism by many.
Before Faé was given the coveted job, Diallo, curiously enough, approached the French Football Federation to see if he could hire Hervé Renard – the man who led the country to a second Afcon title in 2015 and is now in led the women of France. national team – to lead the Elephants for the rest of the competition.
Renard was in the Ivory Coast for the tournament. Unsurprisingly, the FFF rejected Diallo’s request.
As Mamadou Gaye, football analyst for SuperSport, the pan-African pay TV channel, asked: “How do you sack a coach during the tournament and expect the other country’s federation to give the coach they hire on loan to you? , for a major competition? It is something that is beyond my understanding and many people in the country.”
Due to public anger against Diallo, ahead of the round of 16, the FIF boss has kept a relatively low public profile during the tournament. Diallo’s home and the FIF headquarters, on Avenue Treichville in Abidjan, were protected by armed guards during the group stages.
A major criticism against Diallo during this Afcon is the alleged neglect of his main job – ensuring that the national team is properly prepared – spending more time, instead, on his duties as vice president of a local organizing committee the competition.
Many claim that the country’s women’s national team pulled out of the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics due to a lack of funds, even though Ivory Coast is thought to have spent over $1. bn as they prepare to host this Cup of Nations. Diallo has said a lack of government funding was to blame.
Yeo Martial, the Ivorian coach who led the country to their first Afcon title in 1992, has also publicly criticized FIF, complaining on national television that his place in the country’s football history was not acknowledged in the events and activities planned by the organizing committee for Afcon.
A former senior Ivorian member of the CAF administration, who has long ties to the country’s football community and high-ranking people in government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he is not surprised by the mess Ivorian football is currently in.
“There are many in football administration who are not acting in the best interest of the country,” he says. “They seem more concerned about enjoying the trappings of power than they do the hard work of developing football. But if we look at things critically this leadership problem is not exclusive to Ivorian football. It is a problem that can be seen across the entire African continent.”
But with the hosts pulling a fourth-place finish from the sharp jaws of embarrassment and shame, the big question is whether what has so far been seen as a dream for the Ivory Coast – a third Afcon title – is now realistic. .
If that happens, it would be completely in tune with the drama that has been part of the most exciting, unpredictable and open contest in the history of this competition.
