On Thursday, Côte d’Ivoire coach Jean-Louis Gasset unveiled the list of the 27 Elephants selected to compete at the CAN 2023 on home soil.
And the main news concerns the absence of Wilfried Zaha! The Galatasaray winger, who had already been left out in November after refusing to join the squad on time, is now paying the price for his multiple no-shows for the national team, despite good performances for his club.
Midfielder Hamed Junior Traoré (Bournemouth) has withdrawn from the squad due to a virus contracted during the previous training camp, as we exclusively revealed last week.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the date of their return from injury, striker Sébastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund) and winger Simon Adingra (Brighton) are also in the squad, even if it’s not certain that they’ll recover in time.
“I’m willing to take the risk for a player like him, because he’s a leader. I think he’s the striker for Côte d’Ivoire, and I want to see the process through with him,” explained Gasset, referring to Haller as a “race against time” but also revealing that he is “very hopeful” of recovering him in time.
Pépé’s comeback
At the same time, three players who have not been called up for many months have made a surprise comeback, starting with winger Nicolas Pépé, who is gradually returning to form with Trabzonspor.
Defender Ismaël Diallo (Hajduk Split) has been preferred to Hassane Kamara as Ghislain Konan’s understudy at left-back, while midfielder Lazare Amani (Union Saint-Gilloise) is making a comeback in Traoré’s absence.
In the balance, central defender Odilon Kossounou, midfielder Idrissa Doumbia and winger Jérémie Boga have finally joined the good bandwagon, while headliners Serge Aurier, Seko Fofana, Franck Kessié, Ibrahim Sangaré, Jonathan Bamba and Evan Nicka will obviously be on board.
The Elephants will face Sierra Leone on January 6 as part of their preparations.
Côte d’Ivoire list for CAN 2023
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