Despite the elimination of Ivory Coast from the African cup of nations at the quarter-final stage itself, the manager of the national team, Sabri Lamouchi has said that he will not be resigning from his post. He has also said that he believes Ivory Coast have a good tournament.
Ivory Coast have been the favourites to lift the African cup of nations for quite a while now. This has been due to the presence of several high profile players like Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré, but they have failed to deliver this trophy. Ivory Coast were last successful in this tournament back in 1992.
The 2013 African cup of nations was regarded as the final major tournament for the Golden generation that includes the likes of the 34-year-old Didier Drogba.
However, they suffered elimination from the competition yet again. The 2-1 defeat at the hands of Nigeria meant that Ivory Coast were unable to progress past the quarter-final stage of the competition. This has led to intense pressure on the manager Lamouchi, with calls for his sacking. However, Lamouchi has said that even though he is extremely sad, he is satisfied with the performance of his players at the tournament. The 41-year-old was appointed as the national team manager only recently.
“I feel I have done my job. It was not the result we wanted but that’s part of the job. This is my first defeat in 10 games. It’s a huge sadness. I thought we were on the right path, doing good work, but it was not enough. It’s out of the question for me to resign just after six months knowing the job (was) done. I knew that we would need to be at 150 percent against a great team like Nigeria,” said Lamouchi after the Nigeria match.