Ivory Coast Football Fans

Nations across West Africa have been hit with Ebola as the death toll continues to rise and it’s already reaching 2,700 with more and more people getting infected and even American doctors that went out to the infected places in order to give a helping hand but after making their return to United States have also been contaminated and have had to be quarantined.

Despite this non-stop spread of Ebola, it did not stop The Ivory Coast government on allowing their squad to perform an Africa Cup of Nations against Sierra Leone from playing their match.

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.

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.

Ivory Coast national team boss Sabri Lamouchi was disappointed to see his team suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bosnia in a friendly match. This was one of the few pretournament friendly matches for the team before they took part in the World Cup 2014 with the opening match being against Japan. Ivory Coast are seen as one of the favourites to win the group since they are our opponents will be the likes of Japan, Greece, and Colombia.

Ivory Coast national team manager Sabri Lamouchi position has been under threat for the last few months. Many have said that he does not have the experience required to take a team which stars like Yaya Touré and Didier Drogba into a major competition and get results. Despite possessing a lot of high profile players, Ivory Coast have been unable to shed of the image as the nearby men in Africa. They have failed to win the African cup of nations on several occasions despite going close. Since taking over in 2012, Lamouchi has been able to achieve relative success with the national team.

Ivory Coast have been dealt a huge blow with the news that Everton striker Arouna Kone will not be available for the World Cup 2014 after undergoing surgery in order to remove a cartilage problem in his knee.

Ivory Coast have a plethora of strikers capable of leading the line, but Kone has been one of the finest replacement for captain Didier Drogba in the recent months. He has not played for Everton or the national team since October. No, he has undergone an operation in order to rectify the problem in his knee.

Roma striker Gervinho is of the opinion that Ivory Coast are not second best to any of the teams at the FIFA World Cup 2014. Ivory Coast go into the tournament as one of the African representatives.

Ivory Coast have been classified as one of the favourites to get into the knockout stages after being drawn in the group containing the likes of Japan and Greece. Colombia are the other team in the group.

Considering that the likes of Germany and Spain could have been their group opponents, this is a much kinder draw for the African team. As a result, their manager Sabri Lamouchi says that they could qualify for the knockout phases, but he has admitted that winning the tournament still remains a long way away.

After qualifying for the World Cup 2014 by managing to overcome one of the stronger teams from Africa – Senegal, Ivory Coast will be looking to do well at the major tournament.

They were a major disappointment at the 2010 World Cup after they did not even manage to get past the group stages. Ivory Coast finished third in the group containing Brazil, Portugal, and North Korea. At 2014 World Cup, they are grouped along with Columbia, Greece, and Japan. Ivory Coast have been made of the favourites to qualify for the knockout stages.

Ivory Coast reached the World Cup finals for the third time in their history and this delighted their manager Sabri Lamouchi. Ivory Coast have been criticised for not performing well in major tournaments, as they have failed to win the African cup of nations on a number of occasions despite being the outright favourites.