Ivory Coast missing 10 players who won Afcon early this year
Ivory Coast Coach Emerse has made a number of changes in his AFCON winning squad.
About 10 players who were utilized in the continental premier tournament are not available now for different reasons. Captain and former Leicester City Winger Max Gradel announced his retirement from the national team immediately after leading the team to their third crown in Abidjan early this year.
Serge Aurier who is now in the books of Galatasaray in Turkey did not make the cut for the two World Cup qualifying games against Gabon and Kenya respectively. Man United’s wonder boy Adama Traore was also overlooked by coach Fae despite getting some minutes in Erik Ten Hag’s team towards the end of last season.
Some of the players who have been incorporate in the squad include defenders Christopher Operi (Le Harve, France), Mohamed Bamba (FC Lorient,France), Evan Guessand (Nice,France),Guela Doue (Rennes,France),Emmanuel Agbadou (Reims,France) and Emmanuel Latte (Middlesbrough, England).
Former Arsenal speedy forward Niklas Pepe stayed on the bench in the Gabon duel last Friday but he expected to start against Harambee Stars today alongside Brighton’s and 2023 AFCON young Player of the tournament Simon Adingra who was introduced in the second half in their last game.
Dortmund’s Sebastien Haller is anticipated to be paired with Stade Reims’ forward Omar Diakite while Franck Kessie deployed at the middle of the park in a 3-5-2 formation.
This will be the second meeting between Harambee Stars and the Elephants in senior men’s football. The only meeting so far was a friendly match in 1991 and the visitors beat Kenya 4-0 in Abidjan.
