Ivory Coast recently brought in Hervé Renard as the replacement for Sabri Lamouchi, who left the national team after the World Cup 2014. This was after a disappointing performance from the African team as they even failed to reach the knockout stages of the tournament. Ivory Coast came into the World Cup with a lot of expectations since this was seen as the last opportunity for the team full of stars like Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, and Kolo Toure to finally achieve in the game. Despite the star-studded nature, Ivory Coast have failed to break the two decade wait for a major trophy.
As a result, Lamouchi became one of the several managers to leave his job after the World Cup. In his place, the national team has brought in Frenchman Renard. The 45-year-old is someone not new to African football after having previously managed the likes of Zambia, on two occasions, and Angola. He has stated that his objective is to build a team that will challenge for titles in the future, while also not losing the core values of this current team. Renard’s first major job will be to guide the team into the African Cup of Nations in 2015. The qualifiers for the tournament will begin shortly.
“My mission is to build a new team, all the while knowing that not everything should be thrown away. There won’t be a revolution because the next challenge is in September, but we will bring a new dynamism. Even though Ivory Coast has foreign-based players I think it would be a shame to ignore the domestic game. To succeed in my mission I’ll need to work very hard, to impose discipline, get the most out of the individual talents, bring a sense of collective spirit to everyone,” said the manager.
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