This 2023 African Cup of Nations certainly has many surprises in store. After being knocked out by Algeria and Ghana in the first round, Egypt and Senegal fell by the wayside in the 1/8 finals. Indeed, Lions of Teranga, the title holders, fell last night to Ivory Coast, who were on the brink of elimination during the group stage. After a draw (1-1), the Elephants won in a penalty shootout (5-4). A blow fell on the head of the Senegalese, apparently from a great height. After the meeting, the players were as stunned as Idrissa Gueye.
KO players
““I don’t know how we will explain because we respected the coach’s instructions during the first 15 minutes. Then we started going back after scoring and we stopped playing. Maybe it’s the atmosphere that does it. It was the point of the match that did it, it was the pressure. Honestly I can’t explain it, it’s a football match. We had to lose today and we lost. We have to hold our heads high, thank God for allowing us to go this far and be mentally strong because there are teams that were eliminated in the first round. We don’t deserve more than them. It is true that we won our three matches but it doesn’t mean anything and we knew it very well.”
Then he added: “We also knew we were playing against Ivory Coast, an injured team who wanted to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd, in front of their country. To rest well we must accept and quietly return to our homes and our clubs. His teammate, Crepin Diatta, was even more virulent. He could not digest that the referee did not award his country a penalty following Odilon Kosonu’s foul on Ismaila Sir. “You are corrupt. You killed us, you corrupt! Keep your African cup. You go to VAR to give them a penalty, a guy (Ismaila Sir) who takes the ball 40 meters and rides, enters the area and you don’t want to go to VAR? I’m sorry but this is overkill. I am really sorry but they killed our competition there”It unclear.
Aliou Cissé has been named as the culprit
The national coach, Aliou Cissé, was more measured. “I am disappointed with the result for my players, for our people because we came to win this CAN. There were a lot of game facts I won’t go into. Too bad we lost track after opening the score. But in a win as in a loss you have to be proud and I am proud of my players… My only regret is that we stopped playing after opening the score. Ivory Coast was occupied without being dangerous. Looking at the look of the match, we quickly realized that it was going to come down to the details. We made it difficult for ourselves.” He then talked about his future. “We will see what the future holds for us. First I want to digest this defeat because everyone is disappointed. There will definitely be a discussion with the federation but my future doesn’t matter right now.
But the Senegalese press is angry with him. For the SeneWeb site, it is responsible for this deletion. Senegal’s coach can be considered the man of the match in the round of 16 between Senegal and Ivory Coast. Aliou Cissé stood out in particular for going nearly 90 minutes without a substitute. A real achievement of the coach whose team was surrounded by the opponent, Senegalese media wrote, indicating that the Ivorians made several changes during the match. What Sis didn’t do when two selections went to penalty. “Teranga Lions had already lost the match due to coach’s unimaginable indifference”.adds seneweb. The site also cited poor handling of the score and three-way defense.
The Senegalese press is furious
Impressive in the first round, Senegal generally disappointed. “Timorous lions eliminated by Ivorian miracle workers”.as seneweb. “Ivory Coast oust reigning champions after fierce duel,” read Journal of Senegal Before talking about “surprise”. for its part, African-foot wrote: “Who would have thought so? Miraculously qualified in the best third of the group stage, Ivory Coast, the host country, Senegal, the defending champions, beat on penalties and this Monday night finally in the 1/8 finals of CAN 2023 at Charles-Conan. Bunny Stadium in Yamoussoukro! On the wire Having led for 84 minutes before being caught and forced into overtime, Aliou Cisse’s gang, who fell far behind in the end, joined a long list of reigning champions who have suffered bitter setbacks…”
Finally, DAKAR MORNING A little burden to everyone after this disillusionment. “There we are, we must now return to the harsh reality that prevails in this charming country. We thought we were so beautiful and the best on the continent. Complete success with goals and style during the first round of CAN which is currently being played in Ivory Coast and continues without us. With that, we thought we’d make short work of a miracle team whose qualification for the eighth Morocco offered them. Ah, they will see what they see, these Ivorians!” Dejected, the Senegalese will have to move on, who may well lose their coach Aliou Sisi, who is made in the same country as certain players.
Pub. The
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