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Ivory Coast head coach Jean-Louis Gasset has admitted responsibility following a huge 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea on Monday, January 22, 2024.

The Elephants were no match for the determined and spirited Nzalang Nacional, who produced one of the biggest shocking results in the tournament so far by thrashing the hosts at Ebimpe’s Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium.

A double by in-form Emilio Nsue and more goals from Pablo Ganet and Jannick Buyla were enough to shock the two-time AFCON champions.

Following the heavy defeat, Gasset admitted personal responsibility, as he termed the result a nightmare and catastrophic.

“There are sometimes nightmare matches, matches where everything seems to be against you. We conceded a goal in the first half on the opponent’s only opportunity.

“We score goals that are disallowed; we have witnessed a perfect disaster. We have three points; we won a match; the four best third places are qualified; we will hope.

“We have an efficiency problem. In 180 minutes, we didn’t score a goal, and yet we made substitutes to have more attackers. Today (Monday), the result was catastrophic. I know that I am the main responsible person,” Gasset told CAFOnline.

Micha’s strategy

On his part, Nzalang’s head coach, Juan Micha, said they took advantage of the pressure the Elephants are under being the hosts.

“We knew that the opponent had a lot of pressure; we took that into account when putting our strategy in place. With our humility, we made the effort to reach as far as possible. We are working to reach the level of the big guys. What we want is to do our job, believe in ourselves, and try to win every time.

“Regarding Cote d’Ivoire, I am hurt because it is the organizing country, but it is football. I believe that the objective is to go through the different stages until the end. We must forget this match and plan for the rest of the competition,” Micha said.

Equatorial Guinea booked their place in the knockout stage as the joint-group leaders, level on points with Nigeria.

Ivory Coast are third, and their chances of progressing are slim.