Ivory Coast manager Sabri Lamouchi has resigned with immediate effect after the Ivory Coast national team crashed out of the World Cup 2014 without even progressing past the group stages. This was widely considered as the last opportunity for the Golden generation of Ivory Coast players to impress at a major tournament. The likes of Kolo Toure and Didier Drogba were probably playing in the last major international tournament. Further, Yaya Touré was also coming on the back of every impressive season with Manchester City in which he had scored more than 20 goals from the midfield.
Despite this, Ivory Coast finished third in the group and were knocked out of the competition. Columbia progressed as the group winners by winning all of their league matches, while Greece progressed by virtue of just one win against the Ivory Coast in the final match. The African team would have qualified for the knockout stages had they held on for a 1-1 draw, but they conceded a late goal to go out of the competition. Lamouchi’s time at Ivory Coast has been filled with controversies after he fell out with key players like Drogba after taking over.
Now, he has announced that he will no longer remain as the manager, as he takes the blame for the early exit.
“I’m deeply disappointed for the players. The Ivory Coast is a great football nation and this was a cruel game, a cruel game. After so much hard work and so much sacrifice, all of us and everyone in the Ivory Coast is very sad,” said the manager. His contract was scheduled to run until the end of the competition. Lamouchi has been in charge of the national team since 2012. His previous failure came in the African cup of nations, which was won by Nigeria.