Cote d'Ivoire boss Gasset prepares for do or die against Equatorial Guinea
Cote d'Ivoire coach Jean-Louis Gasset punched out a defiant tone on Sunday as he prepared his players for their final game in the pool stages at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
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The hosts must beat Equatoria Guinea at the Alassane Outtara Stadium in Abidjan on Monday to qualify automatically for the last-16 knockout stages.
Defeat would leave them with three points from their three games and a poor chance of advancing to the second phase as one of the four best third-placed teams. A draw to give them four points might not even be enough either.
"We have our destiny in our hands and that's very important," said the 70-year-old Frenchman whose coaching career stretches back more than 30 years.
"Sometimes, when you arrive at tournaments like this, you have to wait for other results.
"We don't have to wait for other people's results. We know that if we win, we'll qualify. That's the most important thing and the players know it."
Change
After launching the 2023 Cup of Nations on 13 January with a 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire lost 1-0 to Nigeria on 18 January.
Equatorial Guinea go into their game against the hosts boasting four points from their two ties.
In an attempt to reduce the pressure on his players, Gasset pointed out that several of the traditional African powerhouses such as Egypt, Ghana, Algeria and Cameroon were also struggling in the tournament.
"Teams with our status are in the boat as us," Gasset added. "They find themselves with their backs against the wall. But we must have confidence.
"We're playing a home game in front of our fans. Up to now, we've done a lot of good things, so we must believe. More than ever we must believe."
No such doubts pervade the Equatorial Guinea camp who swept past Guinea Bissau 4-2 in their second game following a 1-1 draw with Nigeria.
"We weren't on the list of teams who would be winning games or possibly into the knockout stages, " said Equatorial Guinea coach Juan Micha.
Spirit
"But our mentality to be competitive with the best teams has got us here and our target is the next step. The fact that we have four points is not significant. We want to be first."
Failure to advance would make Cote d'Ivoire the first host nation to fail to reach the knockout stages since the tournament was expanded from 16 to 24 teams in 2019.
Gasset acknowledged the stakes. "Equatorial Guinea is a very united team who fight for each other.
"But we know the match we'll have to play. We know that we'll have to make them defend as deep as possible and above all, we'll have to be effective.
"That's our problem at the moment - efficiency."
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