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Cote d’Ivoire head coach Emerse Fae has lamented his team’s elimination from the FIFA World Cup 2026, Competesports.com reports.
The Elephants were knocked out of the competition following a 2-1 defeat to Norway in their Round of 32 encounter on Tuesday night.
Antonio Nusa gave Norway the lead with a superb finish from inside the box six minutes before the break.
Cote d’Ivoire levelled through Amad Diallo in the 74th minute.
Read Also:World Cup 2026: Côte d’Ivoire Deserved Round Of 32 Spot — Faé
Erling Haaland stabbed home from close range from Patrick Berg’s low cross five minutes from time to send Norway into the Round of 16.
Fae Rues Elephants’ Poor Marksmanship
Fae said his side paid the price for failing to convert their chances.
“That’s football. When you get chances, you have to score. We did the hard part by equalising. Unfortunately, we conceded that goal at the end. It’s a shame. The players gave it their all and played until the very end. We were up against a spirited team that defended well and managed to secure qualification,”Fae was quoted by FIFA.com.
“At this level, it comes down to the little details. You have to stay focused from start to finish, no matter the opponent. It was everyone’s first World Cup. I think the players have learned a lot. Now, we’ll work on coming back stronger for the next challenges.”
3 Comments
It was criminal to have left Haaland, Haaland, in an ocean of space to tap home their winner from deep inside the 18 yard box; the Man City striker didn’t even need to break strides.
I didn’t jubilate at the number of African countries that made it to the round of 32 – that was easy owing the the quantity and quality of teams in the group stages.
For me, it is the African countries that make it to the round of 16 that would make me sit up and take notice.
South Africa, Tunisia and Ivory Coast have all been evicted, leaving 6 more teams as Morocco have already moved mightily into the mansion of the Round of 16.
Let’s wait and see who are among the remaining 6 will prove to be the men amongst boys.
More criminal leaving diallo on the bench, that boy diomande that Leipzig asking 120m for can’t even lace diallo boot, fae got it wrong completely by leaving ur best player on the bench.
After Ivory Coast equalizer @ 74th minutes to the minute halland scored the second and winning goal, dude didn’t touch the ball at all, he was just waiting patiently for that cross knowing his players understand his strength and the pass finally came, this is exactly what we are asking the likes of Bruno, Vitinha , Neves and the other Portugal players to do for cr7, but they won’t.
The North Africans seem to have a stronger representation in this world cup.
I expect DR Congo to lose this evening,Senegal too,then Ghana to complete the numbers on Friday.The opponents these 3 countries are coming up against makes it difficult to proceed to the rounds of 16,though never say never!This is football,upset do happen.I know that..
However,the rounds of 32 pairing favours the North Africans,especially Egypt and Algeria who are squaring up against Australia & Switzerland respectively…One of Egypt & Algeria will move to the next round.
My take,two African teams will qualify for the round of 16.Morocco already has,One of Egypt and Algeria will join Morocco…