|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
African Nations Cup roundup Ivorian team leaves army camp after detention
Posted: Thursday February 03, 2000 01:12 PM
ZAMBAKRO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Ivory Coast's national soccer team, detained after their elimination from the African Nations Cup for "a lesson in civic pride," left a military training camp in the center of the country on Thursday, team sources said. But it was not immediately clear whether the players, who were put on a bus for the main city Abidjan, had been freed or whether their movements would be restricted until they had met the country's new military ruler General Robert Guei. "Everyone is waiting for me on the bus," the team's coach Gbonke Tia Martin told Reuters, declining to answer further questions. FIFA president Sepp Blatter condemned the Ivorian action. "Detaining a team because it failed to qualify for the next round of a football competition is a blatant violation of the autonomy of the football association as well as the fair play principle," Blatter said in a statement. "At a time when the entire football world is looking to Africa and following its major football competition, such an action harms the standing of football in Cote d'Ivoire and on the entire African continent," he said. With professional sides in Europe raising questions about the prolonged absence of their Ivorian players, the ruling military junta said on Wednesday that the team had been detained for letting down the country at the Nations Cup in Ghana. The team, flown home from Ghana on a military plane on Monday following their first-round exit, were kept at a training center at Zambakro some 20 kms south of the inland capital, Yamoussoukro. A junta spokesman told Reuters that they were being held "to teach them a sense of civic responsibility because of their indiscipline." Ivorian-born French international Basile Boli, quoting Youth and Sports Minister Colonel Major Matthias Doue, had earlier said that the players were being held "for their own security." Ivory Coast's military rulers, who seized power in a December 24 coup, detained a string of politicians and soldiers for several weeks offering the same "own security" explanation. Boli, who had accompanied the team, later told Reuters that Doue "was agreeable to them being released so they can honor their contractual commitments, especially as regards players with clubs abroad." Italy's Inter Milan had appealed to FIFA for help in the release of their Ivorian international defender Cyril Domoraud and his teammates. On Thursday, an Inter spokeswoman said they had received no further information about Domoraud or the other players. The majority of the Ivory Coast squad plays for clubs in western Europe. The Elephants, as the team are known, finished third in Group A. They beat hosts Ghana 2-0 on Monday but failed to score enough goals to qualify for the quarterfinals. They lost 3-0 to Cameroon and drew 1-1 with Togo. Cameroon and Ghana qualified. Gabon's Brazilian coach ponders futureGabon coach Antonio Dumas said on Thursday he was undecided over whether to stay on for the World Cup qualifiers. "I have three good offers from other African national teams to consider," the Brazilian said. The Azingo Nationale were knocked out in the first round, picking up their only point in Wednesday's goalless draw against Democratic Republic of Congo, but merely reaching Ghana in the first place was considered an achievement for the tiny nation. Gabon qualified at the expense of more experienced opponent Angola, and beat South Africa 1-0 at home in the process. Dumas said he had to weigh up the prospect of working with a talented crop of young players, on the plus side, against yet more battles with federation officials, on the minus side. "Gabon has some very good young players who could do well in the future," said Dumas, who was voted the second most popular man in the country in a poll carried out by a Libreville newspaper last year. "There are players here who are good enough to play with any Brazilian team." Dumas has complained of resistance from Gabonese officials, who are against replacing established internationals with some of the younger generation. "When I drop a player, they keep quiet but then go complaining to directors, who call me on the phone and ask me to put him back in," said a frustrated Dumas. "I gave some of the new players a run against Congo and we created enough chances to have scored four goals," he said. Gabon's young generation is led by 16-year-old striker Chiva Nzighou, who became the youngest player ever to take part in the Nations Cup. Nzighou, who played in all three games, scored in the opening match against South Africa.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
