This is probably the magic of CAN and football. Barely two weeks ago, who could have announced that Côte d’Ivoire, disappointing in the group stages and humiliated by Equatorial Guinea in the decisive match for qualification (4-0), would end up reaching the final of its African Cup, the one that it organizes. And yet, in the meantime, there have been countless stories. The resignation of Jean-Louis Gasset in the middle of the competition, the attempt to get Hervé Renard on loan, the passage of Emerse Faé as number one and then this miracle against Senegal, then against Mali in the quarterfinals. And finally this Wednesday, the victory against the DRC (1-0) which sends the Elephants to the final.
The rest after this ad
At a press conference, coach Emerse Faé did not hide his joy at necessarily taking his country to the final after having experienced hell at the start of the competition. “It’s particular. Two weeks ago, we were far from imagining that we would qualify for our CAN, because it is ours, in the same stadium where we lost 4-0 against Equatorial Guinea. But I think it’s a deserved victory even if we had more complicated periods in this match. It’s deserved”, he first said before being questioned about the reason for the metamorphosis of his team under his orders even though he was part of Jean-Louis Gasset’s staff at the start of CAN. And in a classy manner, the former Nice player made a point not to push Gasset, already targeted by supporters and journalists.
Read CAN 2023, DRC: the touching message from Chancel Mbemba after the elimination
The desire to concern everyone
“No, with Jean-Louis Gasset, I had the right to speak, I had the right to give my opinion and I did it. That’s the staff and the coach is there to make decisions. And the other members of the staff give their point of view and it’s good when the points of view are not the same elsewhere. There are plenty of decisions that I whispered to him and that he actually listened to. There was no problem between him and me, it’s just that he made the decisions he had to as number 1., he clarified. However, Ivory Coast seems very different from what it offered at the start of the competition. The players visibly quickly adhered to the speech of the former Ivorian international (44 caps).
The rest after this ad
The speech in question? Unity while observers of Ivorian football regularly denounced the lack of collective spirit of the players and stars of the squad. “Since I started my interim, my speech has been this: I have a group of 27 players. And I made them understand that I was counting on everyone. They adhered to the speech, for me a replacement who is in the state of mind, he will bring. They understood that it was with 27 players that we won the CAN. And we saw, I made several changes between each match and during the matches and I was lucky that they worked each time. I like to involve everyone, even those in the stands with a role. On the entry of Lazare who has not played since the start of the competition? I knew that the DRC left spaces between the defenders and the 4 midfielders. And I knew that he had exactly that profile. From the beginning, it’s been a speech to say that they are important” concluded Emerse Faé, applauded by the journalists present at the press conference. Ivory Coast has come a long way and can thank Emerse Faé, the interim who has already become number one in the hearts of supporters. It will now be necessary to confirm with a victory against Nigeria this Sunday in a stadium which will be boiling.
Pub. 02/08/2024 00:30 Updated 02/08/2024 07:18
2024-02-07 23:30:12
#Emerse #Faé #reveals #secrets #miracle #recipe
