| Nobody
fair could say the Elephants have disappointed in the way they were playing
at Mali. But what they take home is a devastating result. Not only that
they finished last in their group. Because of the close tournament they
also finished last of the whole Nations Cup table. Consequence: The Ivorians
were 'relegated' in the seeding for the 2004 Nations Cup and were handed
a horrible task by the draw.
But what were the reasons
that the attractive Ivorian attacking football was rewarded only by a meaningless
late goal in the last group match against the Congolese?
As so often it was
probably a mix of reasons. The course of the matches was not in favour
of the Ivorians, bad luck, Bakayoko might not have been in top form but
the great Abdel Kader Keita clearly was instead.
The sophisticated attacking
game of the Ivorians probably proved too complicated in a tournament that
was characterised by crowded defences and bumpy pitches which together
did easy in closing spaces, slowing down action, effecting accuracy etc.
A strange déjà
vu screenplay had not only pitched the Ivorians against two of the same
opponents of 2000 but also
in the same succession. And it began like two years ago: Côte d'ivoire
lost two valuable points against Togo when they could beat keeper Kossi
Agassa.
In a very good second
game against Cameroon the Ivorians came close to taking the lead but eventually
had to bow down when the more effective Lions profited from a defensive
mistake 5 minutes to the end of the match.
In the third match
Côte d'Ivoire went with a total attacking approach but it was visible
very soon that the Ivorian defence was too vulnerable against the more
simple Congolese counter attacks for which a lot of space was provided.
Once taking the lead the Congolese were able to continue to plague the
Ivorians with more counter attacks until the match was decided while the
Ivorians relentlessly attacked but did not score. |