…over poor outing

Ivory Coast have only failed to get out of the group phase once in the previous nine editions of the tournament, in 2017
Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast have sacked coach Jean-Louis Gasset midway through the tournament, the country’s football federation (FIF) announced on Wednesday.

“The contracts of coach Jean-Louis Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant are terminated due to insufficient results,” the FIF said in a statement.

The Ivorians suffered an embarrassing 4-0 thrashing by Equatorial Guinea in their last Group A game on Monday.

The two-time champions need results to go in their favour in Wednesday’s final group matches to reach the knock-out phase as one of the four best third-placed teams.

Ivory Coast have only failed to get out of the group phase once in the previous nine editions of the tournament, in 2017.

If the Ivory Coast do squeeze into the last 16, Emerse Fae, one of Gasset’s assistants, will take over as interim boss until the end of the tournament.

Frenchman Gasset had been in charge since May 2022 but paid the price for back-to-back group defeats by Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria following an opening 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau.

There are still multiple scenarios in Groups E and F which would send Ivory Coast through.

Victory for World Cup semi-finalists Morocco in their closing Group F game against Zambia would ensure Ivory Coast’s place in the next round.

Gasset had indicated after Monday’s game he would meet FIF president Yacine Idriss Diallo to discuss his future.

“When you have a scenario like that, bordering on a nightmare, there’s not much you can say or do,” Gasset said after the match.

The result was the country’s heaviest ever home defeat.

Gasset was in his first international coaching job, having spent the rest of his career in France.

His former teams include Montpellier, Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne.