Ivory Coast star Christian Kouame broke down in tears as their Africa Cup of Nations hopes have been left hanging within the stability.
The match hosts suffered a shock 4-0 defeat by the hands of Equatorial Guinea, who’re 39 locations beneath them within the FIFA rankings. It meant they’ve completed third of their group, with their opponents securing prime spot forward of Nigeria.
Those two are each via to the knockout phases, however the Ivory Coast now face a nervy wait to see if the qualify as one of many 4 best-ranked third-placed groups throughout the six teams. It all proved to be an excessive amount of for Kouame.
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After being subbed off within the second half, the Fiorentina winger, 26, was seen crying on the bench because the second, third and fourth objectives went in. He’d missed a golden likelihood to equalise earlier than being changed.
The weight of that error clearly weighed heavy on his shoulders as he watched on helpless from the sidelines. Come the full-time whistle, he wasn’t the one one who lower an emotional determine.
The defeated Ivory Coast staff have been consoling one another having didn’t stay as much as the expectations of them as one of many favourites to repeat their 2015 triumph.
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They’ll now have to attend till the completion of the group stage on Wednesday (January 24) to be taught their destiny, having received simply one in every of their three video games – a 2-0 victory over basement aspect Guinea Bissau within the opening fixture of the match.
That victory places makes them higher off than any of the opposite present third-placed groups. But the standings might change considerably within the subsequent 48 hours.
In the opposite fixture in Group A, Nigeria beat Bissau 1-0. Egypt, in the meantime, are more likely to be with out Mohamed Salah ought to they progress after his agent estimated a three to 4 week restoration on his hamstring harm.