AFCON: Hosts Ivory Coast sack coach, on brink of elimination

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast have sacked head coach Jean-Louis Gasset following a disastrous group stage which has left The Elephants on the brink of elimination.

"The contracts of coach Jean-Louis Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant are terminated due to insufficient results," the country's football federation (FIF) announced in a statement on Wednesday.

After beating Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in their opening game, subsequent defeats to Nigeria (0-1) and Equatorial Guinea (0-4) have seen Ivory Coast finish third in Group A.

Frenchman Gasset, 70, had indicated after Monday's game against Equatorial Guinea, the country's heaviest ever home defeat, that he would meet FIF president Yacine Idriss Diallo to discuss his future.

"When you have a scenario like that, bordering on a nightmare, there's not much you can say or do," he said. "In life, there are sometimes matches that turn into nightmares, matches where everything seems linked. We call this the disaster scenario."

But he was at a loss to explain what precisely had gone wrong against a team ranked 39 places lower than them in the FIFA rankings.

"This is a difficult question," he said. "What went wrong with the players? I don't think is their state of mind. When I see players crying in the locker room, it hurts me. The players tried. I think we've tried everything."

Gasset would be replaced on an interim basis by Emerse Fae, a former Ivory Coast midfielder.

The AFCON hosts managed to qualify to the next stage of the tournament, after Morocco defeated Zambia, helping them climb to the last 16 knockout stage.

Ivory Coast's fate out of their hands

The two-times AFCON winners are not completely out yet, but they are reliant on results elsewhere going their way in Wednesday's final group matches in order to progress to the knock-out stage as one of the four best third-placed teams.

Ivory Coast have only failed to get out of the group phase once in the previous nine editions of the tournament, in 2017 — and there are still multiple scenarios which would send them through, such as victory for World Cup semi-finalists Morocco against Zambia in Group F on Wednesday night.

If the Ivory Coast do squeeze into the last 16, Emerse Fae, one of Gasset's assistants, will take over as interim boss until the end of the tournament.

Gasset spent the first 25 years of his career at his hometown club of Montpellier, first as a player (1975-1985) and then as a coach (1985-1999) before being assistant coach at clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Bordeaux and St. Etienne.

He was appointed Ivory Coast national team head coach in May 2022, his first coaching job outside France, and won 10 of 17 matches in charge, with three draws and four defeats.

He had shaken up the team ahead of the finals, leaving out former Manchester United players Eric Bailly and Wilfred Zaha for the tournament where there was a burden of expectation on the hosts.

He is the fourth managerial casualty in less than 24 hours at the tournament, including former Premier League manager Chris Hughton who was sacked by Ghana. The Black Stars were eliminated after finishing third in Group B behind Cape Verde and Egypt, with no chance of being among the four best third-placed teams.

mf/msh (AFP, Reuters)