Ivory Coast head coach Jean-Louis Gasset has taken full responsibility for the team’s 4-0 humiliating defeat against Equatorial Guinea in their final group fixture at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday.

The minnows produced one of the greatest shocks in AFCON history by demolishing the star-studded Elephants in Abidjan to remarkably top Group A. A brilliant Emilio Nsue double along with sensational goals from Pablo Ganet and Jannick Buyla earned Micha’s men a historic triumph.

Asked what went wrong for the Elephants, who were the host nation, Gasset said: “You inevitably feel guilty and responsible. When you are a coach of a club or national team, you are responsible for the results. Today the result was catastrophic. So of course, I am the first to be responsible.

Read Also: AFCON 2023: Micha reveals why Equatorial Guinea thrashed hosts Ivory Coast

“First of all, let’s talk about the matches. In life, there are sometimes matches that turn into nightmares, matches where everything seems linked. We conceded a goal in the first half on the opponent’s only opportunity, even though we had control of the game, we had opportunities, it’s already a bit hard. In the second half, the same scenario, we are dominant where the opponents, the opportunities present themselves to me, and it is ultimately the opponent who scores.

“We call this the disaster scenario. We have three points because we won a match. And as the four best third-place finishers are qualified, we will hope. We are waiting for the results of others.”

On the character of his players, he said: “It’s true that I felt that the second goal was a blow. But they were so impatient, so motivated. That’s when we tried to make offensive changes. Which maybe wasn’t a good idea because for me the goal was to reduce the score to improve the goal difference. But Ivory Coast has good, motivated players. but maybe the pressure was on for them.”