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d’Ivoire coach Francois Zahoui has said his team paid the price for
being inefficient in the loss to Zambia in the final of the 2012 Orange
Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday in Libreville.
The
Elephants lost 7-8 on penalties to the Chipolopolos after 120 minutes
of action failed to produce a winner at a packed Stade de l'amitie.
“We
lacked efficiency, had our chances but failed to score. We are very
disappointed with the result. I reckoned a tough game and we could have
won in normal time. We had a problem during the penalties,” the Ivorian
told a press conference after the match.
Visibly
disturbed by the outcome of a game they were ranked clear cut
favourites, Zahoui expressed his thoughts with his team especially the
older generation after coming close and yet so far again. The Ivorians
lost on penalties to Egypt in 2006, placed fourth two years later in
Ghana and crashed out at the last eight in Angola in 2010.
“It
was game we could not afford to lose. We knew it was going to be
difficult and really wanted to win. It was a difficult moment for my
players. This generation are lionhearted and they wanted to win
something for themselves.
“It
is difficult to end this way after playing very well at the tournament;
scoring nine goals and not conceding. We came here with a lot of
ambition. The biggest lesson is that the players demonstrated maturity
throughout the tournament.”
For
Zahoui, his immediate target is to qualify for the 2013 Africa Cup of
Nations to be hosted in South Africa and has promised to keep his team
intact.
“We have a good team but have to accept the result and move on. We will do our best to qualify for CAN 2013.”
The Elephants took consolation in being adjudged the Fair Play team of the tournament.
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