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 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 favor in Wednesday’s final group matches to reach the knock-out phase as one of the four best third-placed teams.Ivory Coast have sacked manager Jean-Louis Gasset following their 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea.Reminder: They can still qualify for the AFCON last-16 👀 pic.twitter.com/shXJcbkMl9— ESPN Africa (@ESPNAfrica) January 24, 2024 Ivory Coast have only failed to get out of the group phase once in the previous nine editions of the tournament, in 2017.”The contracts of coach Jean-Louis Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant are terminated due to insufficient results,” the FIF said in a statement.AFCON 2023: Tshabalala hails CAF organization terms tournament best everIf 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.AFCON 2023: Equatorial Guinea humiliate star-studded Ivory Coast to advance to round of sixteenGasset 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.AFCON 2023: Four matches on the cards as Groups E and F wind upThe 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.© Agence France-Presse
