Ivory Coast, the host nation of this year’s African Cup of Nations, successfully avoided defeat. The West African nation had to qualify from the group stage as one of the third-best teams after scoring only three points in three games.
They finished third in Group A, losing to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, but advanced to the knockout phase as one of the best losers.
The technical team underwent a major shift, with the firing of head coach Jean-Louis Gasset. In his place, Emerse Fae, a former Reading and Nantes midfielder, was chosen interim coach.
The 40-year-old Ivorian was a member of the Elephants side that placed second in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008, as well as the FIFA World Cup in 2006. However, he spent his entire career in Europe, primarily in England and France.
Fae struggled to impress at Reading, making only 11 appearances before being relegated to the Championship and returning to France, according to Afrosports.
He was a dominant midfielder during his playing career but was forced to retire at the age of 28 due to phlebitis, which is inflammation of a vein in the leg.
Coaching the senior national team of Ivory Coast is not his first job. According to Afrosports, he formerly coached at Nantes and the Ligue 1 club’s youth levels before becoming the reserve team head coach at Clermont.
He also coached the Ivory Coast U23 squad in 2022 and supported Gasset, who was in charge of the Ivory Coast national team until his departure following the country’s poor group stage performances.
From an appalling start to the 2023 African Cup of Nations campaign, Fae has led the team to the finals, where they will meet football giant Nigeria on February 11, 2024. They defeated DR Congo to reach the finals.
In a post-match interview, he described the victory as a “dream”.
“I am very happy, very moved, it’s like a dream,” he remarked after defeating DR Congo 1-0. “I told the guys, ‘You are 27 players, and I count on everyone. To win this competition, we will need all 27 participants.I’ve been telling the players that everyone is important, including those in the spectators, and they got the message.
If Ivory Coast wins on Sunday, their story will be one of the most compelling in the history of world sport. It would also lend legitimacy to proposals for African countries to recruit indigenous trainers.