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African roundup Ivory Coast hopes to recapture magic of 1992
Posted: Monday January 17, 2000 03:51 PM
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -- The Ivory Coast and its veteran goalkeeper Alain Gouamene, who will be playing in a record seventh African Nations Cup finals, are hoping to recapture the magic that brought them their only title back in 1992. Their opponents in Group A include co-hosts Ghana, the team they pipped to the title in 1992 when Gouamene, now 34, saved from Tony Baffoe in a nail-biting penalty shootout. A 2-0 victory at home over reigning champions Egypt on January 9 offered the Elephants, as they are called, a timely pre-tournament boost. "Our aim is to bring back the cup as in 1992," Ousseynou Dieng, president of the Ivorian Football Federation, told reporters. "We have the means to achieve this, provided the technical staff and the players are on the same wavelength." But the Elephants have little margin for error, with continental heavyweights Cameroon and giant-killers Togo, which eliminated Ghana in the first round in 1998, also vying for the two Group A places in the last 16. Coach Martin Gbonke Tia, who was assistant coach in 1992, cracked the whip during a warm-up tour of Guinea, dropping Saliou Lassissi, who plays for Italy's Parma, for indiscipline following a head-butting incident. Speaking after the victory over Egypt, he said that the team still had improvements to make. "The players must play together as a team and maintain their rhythm," he told reporters. Ivory Coast has the enviable record of having reached the final stages of the last nine successive Nations Cups. Only Egypt has taken part in more Nations Cup finals tournaments. Ghana, where it plays the first round in the capital Accra, is just next door -- within easy reach for their passionate supporters. The first match takes place one month to the day after a Christmas Eve coup toppled their president, the first coup in the history of the traditionally stable former French colony. General Robert Guei, the country's new military ruler and a former sports minister, sent them on their way with his blessing and a word of advice -- discipline, he said, was the key to success. Tia has 15 foreign-based professionals in his squad of 22 for this year's competition, following the exclusion of Lassissi. Veterans like Gouamene, who plays for France's Toulouse, and talented winger Donald-Olivier Sie, who plays for Racing Club Paris, have been picked alongside a new generation. Some will be experiencing their first taste of a Nations Cup finals; others, though young, have already been there. Feyernoord's Bonaventure Kalou, a deft dribbler, played for just 20 minutes in the 1998 finals in Burkina Faso -- where eventual winners Egypt knocked out the Elephants in the quarterfinals on penalties. Ibrahima Bakayoko, another striker who plays for France's Marseille, will be playing in his second Nations Cup finals -- stepping into the shoes of Joel Tiehi, who led the Ivorian attack for eight years. Nigeria sacks short-timer soccer boss ahead of cupNigerian Football Association (NFA) chairman Tony Kodjo Williams was removed on Monday after less than three months in office amid preparations for the African Nations Cup. NFA officials said Williams had been impeached following a no-confidence motion by board members. A successor would be named in due course, but in the meantime vice-chairman Dominic Oneya would take over. Nigeria, winners in 1980 and 1994, are preparing with Ghana to co-host the Nations Cup which runs from January 22 to February 13. Their Super Eagles are among the most hotly tipped teams. Local media had reported frequent disagreements between Williams and the sports ministry over the running of Nigerian football. Williams, who was initially elected for a three-year term, managed to defeat moves to impeach him last December.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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