The Ivorian senior national team don’t need a major overhaul according to Salomon Kalou. The former Hertha Berlin and Chelsea attacker made this known in a chat with BBC Sport Africa. Salomon Kalou advised the Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF) not to throw away all the good things achieved, but improvements can be made on the areas that are lacking.
Kalou and many Ivorian football fans were disappointed with the performance of the team at the 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cameroon held earlier this year having been postponed from last year. Ivory Coast impressed in the group stage finishing as Group E winners ahead of Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and defending champions Algeria. They recorded seven points from three group games to finish at the summit. In the round of 16, the Ivorians were eliminated on penalties by eventual finalists Egypt after the two teams failed to score in 120 minutes.
The last 16 exit at the recent AFCON tournament in Cameroon followed their elimination from the World Cup qualifiers. Ivory Coast failed to win their group in the second round of the African qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament. Cameroon finished ahead of the Ivorians in their group thereby qualifying for the final round of the World Cup qualifiers in the African section.
The Ivory Coast football federation made the decision to part ways with head coach Patrice Beaumelle on the back of the failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar and the last 16 exit at the AFCON tournament in Cameroon.