Ivorian coach wishes to progress alongside Ghana

Coach of the Ivorian under 20 team has expressed his desire to see his team qualify alongside the Black Satellites into the semi finals of the on going 13th African Youth Cup currently taking place in Burkina Faso.

In an interview with the GNA Sports the coach said he is a fan of the Ghanaian way of play which is similar to the Ivorian style and it would be a pity if the tournament is deprived of the skills and flair of such teams in the early stages.

The Coach said his decision could also be partly because he comes from Bourno in Ivory Coast which is very close to the Ghanaian boarder hence has a lot of friends in Ghana.

The coach said his team did not have the best of preparation because of the civil war in the Ivory coast and also because the local league is on break and he hence could not get teams to play trial matches with to test his team.

He said in the face of all these problems which he encountered before the tournament everything is gong according to plan. We were unlucky not to have won our opening match whenr we conceded a last minute penalty against the Egyptians in the opening game.

The Ivorian team is built around mostly local players from the academy of the Ivorian Soccer Federation with five foreign based players, Toure Yaya, Eboue Emmanuel, Daniel Yeboah, Diallo Mohamed and Constant Kipre joining from France.

He said the team played well because they have been together for a long time in the academy where all the foreign based players also came from.

Ouattara himself a former Ivorian national team player played locally for Stade de Abidjan before moving to Montepiller where played for nine years before coaching Montpiller's junior team for another nine years.

He returned home two years ago to take over the national under 20 team. He said the overall standard of the game has been very high as all the teams have shown good technical strategies.

Ouattara said it is important to win Wednesday match against the Morocans though it would be difficult judging from their robust and defensive play. He said since his players are smaller they are left with no alternative than to play on the ground.

Against Ghana the Ouattara said it would be difficult and very tight for both teams since they play similar football with emphasis on skills.