Cote d’Ivoire head coach, Jean -Louis Gasset says his side’s failure to break down the Super Eagles defence was responsible for their defeat to the three-time champions.
The Elephants went down to a 1-0 defeat against the Super Eagles at the Alassanne Quattara Stadium on Thursday night.
It was Cote d’Ivoire’s first defeat in the competition.
The Super Eagles exhibited resilience and determination in the keenly contested encounter.
Gasset’s side carved out two chances in the first half, but were completely shut out after the break.
Read Also:AFCON 2023: Eagles Showed Great Determination Against Ivory Coast –Rufai
The Frenchman claimed his side struggled with the defensive approach implemented by the Super Eagles.
“It was a very physical match; Nigeria chose to play very low with a five-man defense to exploit counterattacks with their star striker. It was a tightly contested match,” Gasset said after the game.
“We didn’t give the impression of being able to compete physically.”
The two-time champions will face the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea in their last group game next week Monday.
By Adeboye Amosu in Abidjan
Photo by Ganiyu Yusuf in Abidjan
13 Comments
The mistake Ivory Coast made was to think thst as hosts of a tournament they were better than Nigeria. Suddenly everyone is now saying Nigeria are among the favourites
I have never seen a joker like this Cote divoire coach. No be the same coach wey say him go beat Nigeria be this?
Bro, that’s football for you. It will humble you just like it did to me. I predicted a win for the ivorians. Well done super eagles!
The most inglorious of us believed that without Uzoho, Nigeria does not have a goal keeper because he conceded 4 goals against Costa Rica and 2 against Guinea.
Is that how your much hyped Uzoho would have ruined a.whole nation? The Ivorians tried the.long range shots but failed woefully because we had
a more confident goalkeeper.
A good goalkeeper will give you 10 points in a season.
That MOST INGLORIOUS aka Dr I Too Know DRY has since gone MIA here. He is as usual hiding in a dingy corner waiting for a slip so as to crawl out and say “Didn’t I tell you”? How that guy is a YORUBA defies logic. His signature whining and ITKsm bears semblance with OBIDENCE nattering headless mobs!
Leave Obidient out of this, they are not the cause of your headache
An obifoolish obidog spotted! Bitterleaf lifestyle
Fofana fail to check the SE lineup to know it’s not uzoho on the goal post today, he thought it’s as usual where any shirt from anywhere it’s a goal, NWABALI came prepared.
I like our goal keeper, him no dey fear, confidence guy, fast to catch ball, read game, control his defenders. Ozoho always forgot himself sometimes while on the pitch. Owerri man always think about oringo
Ehyah, the coach is campaigning after election, good performance from our dear Super Eagles, I just hope they can stick to this defensive strategy and exploit our opponents on the counter attack but we need to be more coordinated upfront and take our chances
When a team beats the host convincingly the way they did, it shows there is something they have. I hope they can raise their game and do the needful.
Especially when the host is Cote D’Ivoire. Let’s hope for the best.
Yes, the Super Eagles coach should maintain this defensive strategy and exploit our opponents on the counter attack. This is the main strategy used by the US coach at the World Cup and the Super Falcons performed very well.
What is wrong with some of us? How can somebody pick a time like this when the whole of Nigeria is celebrating the success of our dear Super Eagles over a powerful host like Cote D’Voire, to sow the seeds of ethnic and political discontent. What has “YORUBA” and “OBIDENT” got to do with SE victory? If you do not have any soccer input for us, why not just relax and enjoy the write-up of others for free.