Cote d’Ivoire coach Ibrahim Kamara looking to the future after CHAN 2018

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Wednesday Jan 24, 2018. 10:30

Cote d’Ivoire coach Ibrahim Kamara said they can look forward to the future with hope after their 2018 CAF African Nations Championship exit.

The Elephants played to a 0-0 draw against the Cranes of Uganda on Monday as they wrapped up their Group B assignments.

A dismal showing by the 2015 African champions saw them losing two games in the group and a draw which was not enough to keep them in the continental showpiece staged in Morocco.

“This result doesn’t do anything to my spirit. We played well and it would have been better to win," said Kamara.

"We didn’t want to leave the tournament with three defeats, and we managed to save our pride.

“Our idea was to give hope to Ivorians. We had it all but sadly, we failed to convert our chances.

“We made progress compared to our performance against Zambia in the last match. I believe we can look at the future with hope because we made progress in every game.”

On the other hand, Total Man of the Match Bi Kouame N’guessan added that the tournament was a learning curve for the Elephants.

“We are disappointed we couldn’t win the last game. It has been a learning curve despite going back with one point,” he said to CAFOnline.

“We still have a lot of work to do. Now we know what to do to reach the highest level.”