Ivorians unlikely to repeat 1992 success

ABIDJAN (Reuters) -- Ivory Coast will be hoping its foreign-based players will fuse with local talent at the African Nations Cup but while the team should go beyond the group stage, few see it repeating its sole tournament victory of 1992.

The star player for the "Elephants" is Olympique Marseille's striker Ibrahim Bakayoko and Ivorian coach Lama Bamba can also draw on two solid attackers in Feyenoord's Bonaventure Kalou and Anderlecht's Aruna Dindane.

The French theme continues in midfield where Tchiressoua Guel, who has scored five league goals this season for first division side Lorient, will probably play alongside AJ Auxerre's attacking midfielder Lassina Diabate.

Backing up in defense, Guingamp's Blaise Kouassi may well team up with local stalwarts Habib Toure and Bi Gama Youan, both of whom play for Ivory Coast's ASEC Abidjan, and Tunisian-based Ibrahima Kone.

ASEC Abidjan, which has brought many young Ivorian players through the ranks of its training academy Mimosifcom, provides the bulk of the home-based talent.

Ivory Coast has been drawn in one of the easier groups against World Cup qualifiers Cameroon, and the weaker sides of Togo and Democratic Republic of Congo -- or Congo-Kinshasa.

While the team stands a good chance of progressing from the group stage, many observers feel the team has not had a tough enough preparation to reach the latter stages of the cup.

Still, Ivory Coast managed to beat Mali convincingly in December with mainly locally-based players and only missed out on a World Cup qualifying place to Tunisia after a late slump in form.

Its previous Nations Cup success came in 1992 in a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Ghana in the final.

But two years ago the entire team was detained for a week in a military camp and forced to frog march and attend lecture on patriotism after failing to get past the first round of the finals in Ghana.

The "discipline" was ordered by the country's former military junta, displeased at the team's failure in the Nations Cup finals. It was an action widely condemned by the international football community.

 

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