Ivory Coast sacks head coach after embarrassing exit

The Ivory Coast, hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations, have taken the decision to dismiss their coach, Jean-Louis Gasset, following their embarrassing defeat against Equatorial Guinea. This defeat has left the team uncertain about their chances of qualifying for the next round. The country's football federation made the announcement on Wednesday.

The Cup of Nations host, Ivory Coast, suffered their heaviest defeat with a 4-0 loss to a small central African country on Monday. This result left them in third place in Group A and now they have to wait and see if they can qualify as one of the four best third-placed finishers.

The 70-year-old coach, Gasset, was fired due to "insufficient results" and will be replaced by Emerse Fae as the interim coach. Ivory Coast's fate will be determined later on Wednesday after the completion of the last group matches.

They have collected only three points so far, winning against Guinea Bissau but losing to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Gasset took charge as coach in May 2022 and had a record of 10 wins, three draws, and four defeats in 17 matches.

He made changes to the team for the finals, excluding Eric Bailly and Wilfred Zaha, but the team struggled to meet the high expectations as the host nation.

Despite starting well against Guinea Bissau, they faced a strong Nigerian defense and fell apart against Equatorial Guinea. Gasset described it as a nightmare and expressed his confusion about what went wrong.

He mentioned that the players' state of mind was not the issue and expressed his sympathy for seeing them upset in the locker room.

Gasset admitted that there was not much to say or do in such a disastrous scenario. This was Gasset's first job as a national team coach, although he had previously served as Laurent Blanc's assistant for two years with the French national side after the 2010 World Cup.

Gasset has primarily focused his coaching career in the French league, having worked with Montpellier, Saint Etienne, and Girondins Bordeaux. Additionally, he has had two distinct periods serving on the coaching staff at Paris St Germain.

Within a span of less than 24 hours, he becomes the fourth managerial casualty at the tournament.