The manager of the Ivory Coast national football team, Sabri Lamouchi, doesn’t think that his team is lucky to be facing a relatively weaker opponent like Senegal in the World Cup qualifying play offs.
In the first leg of the play off which was played in Abidjan, Ivory Coast had secured a comfortable victory. They had won by a profound margin of 3-1 and now, their chances of making it to the finals are looking really good.
After that match, some people had said that Ivory Coast was a bit lucky to get an opposing team like Senegal in the play offs. But, Lamouchi doesn’t agree with those people.
According to the Ivory Coast boss, Senegal is a team which plays in an unorthodox fashion and to handle them can be difficult at times.
Lamouchi said, “I would have preferred another opponent to be honest. It’s not easy to handle a team like Senegal. Their style is a bit unconventional.”
Although Ivory Coast won by a convincing margin in that first leg, but, the margin of their win could have been bigger if they had capitalized on each and every opportunity that they got. A lot of Ivorian fans were unhappy because of those lost opportunities.
When asked about that, Lamouchi said, “I can understand the feelings of the fans and I also admit that we could have played a little bit better especially towards the end. It would have been great if we had not conceded that one goal late in the game, but, the thing is that we got the result that we were looking for and we should be happy with that.”
The return leg of the play off between Senegal and Ivory Coast will take place on Monday at Casablanca.