After suffering the most shocking defeat in the history of the African Cup of Nations in its most recent group match, Ivory Coast will have to wait Tuesday and Wednesday to find out if it can advance to its own tournament.
The Ivorians were defeated 4-0 on Monday by Equatorial Guinea, a nation of just 1.6 million people, whose motley team was primarily made up of players from Spain’s lesser levels. This was the biggest loss ever suffered by a host country.
After a devastating defeat, the Ivorians—who were mocked by their own fans—were demoted to third place in Group A and had to wait to find out if they would advance to the Round of 16.
The four best third-place finishers and the top two teams from each group move on to the knockout stage.
The Ivorians are still in the running after Monday’s completion of Groups A and B, particularly considering that their neighbors Ghana lost 2-2 in stoppage time to Mozambique and gave up two goals in return.
Groups C and D conclude on Tuesday, and Groups E and F on Wednesday. Ghana managed just two points and will probably be eliminated, while the Ivorians grabbed three points from their three group games.
For the Ivorians, whose defeat sparked violence among enraged supporters with cars and buses stoned along the path from the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium, Ghana’s shocking setback was a ray of hope on a gloomy day.
For the Ivorians, the game was an unending sequence of wasted opportunities, while everything their inferior opponents touched turned to gold.
Ivory Coast coach Jean Louis Gasset stated, “There are times in life when matches turn into nightmares, matches where everything seems linked.”
This is referred to as the disaster scenario. In reference to their 2-0 victory over Guinea Bissau in the tournament’s opening encounter on January 13, he stated, “We have three points because we won a match.”
And we still intend to place among the top four third-place finishers. We are awaiting the outcomes of other people.
Former assistant coach for France Gasset said he did not know what went wrong.
“This is a challenging query. What seemed to be amiss with the players? It’s not, in my opinion, their mental state. It pains me to see athletes cry in the locker room. The athletes made an effort. We’ve tried everything, I believe,” he continued.
“There’s not much you can say or do in a situation like this, which verges on a nightmare.”
