“Will the 1984 scenario happen again?”, here is the question L’inter asked this morning after “the great hu-mi-lia-tion”, as the Ivorian general daily newspaper headlined. That year, the Elephants had already stopped in the group stage, finishing third in Group A behind Egypt and Cameroon.
This time, in 2024, Ivory Coast is once again up against the wall. After a victory for its entry into the running – as in 1984 – the players from the land of Eburnie let down their guard, first against Nigeria (0-1), also a candidate for final victory, but especially against Equatorial Guinea for its last group match.
In Abidjan, in front of more than 40,000 spectators, Franck Kessié and his teammates experienced a nightmarish evening. Trailing 1-0 at half-time, the Ivorians experienced a terrible end to the match with three goals conceded between the 73rd and 88th minutes of play.
The future of Frenchman Jean-Louis Gasset, coach of Côte d’Ivoire since 2022, has largely been called into question in recent hours in Côte d’Ivoire. “Le Jour” notably headlined “Gasset must resign”, RHDP News for its part wrote “The heads of Gasset and Idriss Diallo – the president of the Ivorian football federation – demanded”. The Ivorian sports daily “Super Sport” also called for the resignation of the Frenchman, with the headline “Gasset out, Idriss resignation”, accompanied by the shock phrase “The Elephants bring shame to the Ivory Coast”.
There was no shortage of superlatives to describe this failure of the Elephants. “Le Naufrage” was covered three times, by “L’Essor”, “Le nouveau éveil” and “Le sursaut”. Some were more enthusiastic, like “Le Patriote”, which explains “why we must continue to believe” to Jean-Louis Gasset’s men. “Fraternité Matin” chose “Le Naufrage”, “L’Intelligent” tried a new superlative: “Nzalangés”, in reference to the name of the Equatorial Guinean team.