Mamadou Gaye: Cote d'Ivoire will fail in Brazil

 

 

The Ivorian football pundit opens up to Goal on why the Elephants will return from the 2014 Fifa World Cup with heads bowed low

Cote d'Ivoire journalist and football pundit, Mamadou Gaye has told Goal that his country will have another poor outing at the World Cup in June.
The Elephants are making their third appearance at the Mundial and are expected to be one of Africa's main hopes of reaching the knock out stages in Brazil having been placed in Group C alongside Colombia, Japan and Greece.
When an elder sees a mudskipper, he must not afterwards say it was a crocodile.

The above aphorism, from Ola Rotimi’s tragic play Kurunmi, appositely suits the revelation of the football pundit on reasons behind his assenting statement that Sabri Lamouchi’s Elephants will participate in the 20th World Cup but return home empty handed.
Gaye, also known as ‘the Assassin of Abidjan’, is not a neophyte. The Ivorian football journalist's views are as internationally acclaimed as they are controversial.
The Elephants made their debut at Germany 2006 and got kicked out of the first round after losing to Argentina and the Netherlands in their opening two fixtures, before securing a face-lifting 3-2 victory over Serbia and Montenegro.
Four years later in South Africa, it was the same tale as their 3-1 defeat to Brazil, their only loss of that tournament, ensured they booked an early flight back home despite their 0-0 draw with Portugal and their 3-0 spanking of North Korea.
To many football followers, Brazil 2014 will be the last chance for their golden generation of footballers to inscribe their names in gold as that will mark their curtain call on the international scene. According to Gaye, Cote d’Ivoire stand no chance because of the players’ age.
 “Whenever you see the starting line-up of the Elephants in any game, at least seven of the players are over 30. That is a serious problem,” Gaye brusquely told Goal at the GLO/CAF Awards in Lagos.

If key players, on whose shoulders the country depends on like captain Didier Drogba (36), Yaya Toure (31), Kolo Toure (33), Romaric (30), Sol Bamba (30), Didier Zokora (34), Daniel Yeboah (30), Arthur Boka (31), Siaka Tiene (32), Emmanuel Eboue (31), Igor Lolo (32), Didier Ya Konan (33), Serey Die (30) and goalkeeper Boubacar Barry (35) eventually make the squad to Brazil, could it spell doom or could it motivate them to match the record of the Italians that won the 2006 World Cup with a team made up of 16 players over the age of 28?

 Didier Drogba | One last chance of international glory

Another reason why the Elephants will fail, as stated by Gaye, is lack of discipline which, according to him, has eaten deep into the fabric of the Ivorian senior team as they see any such national assignment as a time for jamboree.
“This team is marred by indiscipline. They never take competitions serious. They play in high-profile club sides, they have the money, fame and everything and whenever they come to play for the national team they see it as a time to party," said Gaye.
“I told them sometime ago that why will they continue to do what they cannot do at their foreign teams in colours of the national team? Can they bring girlfriends to a hotel booked by their clubs? Never!
“But they bring women to the hotel booked by the government of Cote d’Ivoire and go about womanizing, cheating on their women back home.
“They don’t know that such a competition is not a platform where you can cheat on your wife or make new girlfriends. This is a competition where you have to concentrate for one month, focus, self discipline then you can hit the target,” he lamented.

Sabri Lamouchi, who was appointed national team coach after Francois Zahoui was axed by the Ivorian Football Federation less than a week before the start of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, was not left out of this, as Gaye feels he is inexperienced to handle a job as big as that of the Cote d’Ivoire national team. Similarly, Gaye thinks Lamouchi does not have what it takes to cut the sharp fangs of the big egos in the national team to size.

 Sabri Lamouche | Hoping to prove doubters wrong

“The whole nation is worried at the moment because in Sabri Lamouchi we don’t have a coach. This is a coach that was appointed as head coach of Cote d’Ivoire two weeks after graduating from his coaching school," Gaye said.
“He has never coached in his entire life and doesn’t have any experience not even as an assistant to someone. We escaped against Senegal [in the World Cup play-offs] where we beat them by luck. Everybody is worried,” he revealed.
In the history of the FIFA World Cup, no foreign manager has won the trophy. So tasking Lamouchi to go get the gold might just be a wild-goose chase for the former French international.
“It boils down to the management of the FA because they dictate the pace. What happens when an FA brings in a puppet coach that can be manipulated by them and the players? So don’t expect any result."
Cote d’Ivoire will face Colombia, Greece and Japan in Group C at the quadrennial showpiece. Echoing the 18th century English poet Alexander Pope’s sentiment that "Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed was the ninth beatitude", Gaye expects nothing good from the Elephants’ expedition despite high expectation from their countrymen unless the right things are done.
“Though back home, there are great expectations but honestly I can tell you now that should Sabri Lamouchi take us to Brazil 2014, we will be the only country in World Cup history with three successive World Cups and first round exit.

“We have youngsters that are doing well in Europe all you need to do is have the courage of Stephen Keshi by kicking out some old legs and bring in the young stars, blend the team and you will see results,” Gaye concluded.
With their third consecutive appearance at the FIFA World Cup, CIV want to prove to the world that they are a strong force to be reckoned with. Similarly, this will be the last opportunity for the golden generation led by Drogba to leave their name in the sands of time.

However, considering Gaye’s revelation, it might just be another fruitless mission for the Elephants in Brazil.