The football federation of Ivory Coast, hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations, announced the dismissal of coach Jean-Louis Gasset on Wednesday following their devastating loss to Equatorial Guinea, which left them uncertain about their chances of moving on to the next round.

The Ivorians finished third in Group A after losing 4-0 to the tiny central African nation on Monday, the worst defeat experienced by a host nation for the Cup of Nations.

They now await the possibility of qualifying as one of the four best third-place finishers.

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Per a statement, Gasset, 70, was let go due to “insufficient results” and Emerse Fae would take over as interim coach.

After earning only three points from their Group A matches—beating Guinea Bissau in the first game and losing to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea—Ivory Coast will find out their fate later on Wednesday when the final group matches are played.

In his 17 games in charge, Gasset won 10 of them, with three draws and four losses, since taking over as coach in May 2022.

Eric Bailly and Wilfred Zaha were left out of the team for the competition, which put a lot of pressure on the hosts, in an effort to mix things up before the finals.

They had a goal in the first five minutes against Guinea Bissau, but they were unable to overcome a formidable Nigerian defence and collapsed against Equatorial Guinea in what Gasset later described as a “nightmare.”

“In life, there are sometimes matches that turn into nightmares, matches where everything seems linked.

“We call this the disaster scenario,” he said.
He added he could not fathom what went wrong.

“This is a difficult question. What went wrong with the players? I don’t think is their state of mind.

” When I see players crying in the locker room, it hurts me. The players tried. I think we’ve tried everything,” he said.

“When you have a scenario like this, which borders on a nightmare, there is not much to say or do.”

Although the Frenchman assisted Laurent Blanc for two years with the French national team following the 2010 World Cup, this was his first position as a national team coach.

Gasset has coached in the French league for Montpellier, Saint Etienne, and Girondins Bordeaux for the majority of his career.

He also served as Paris St. Germain’s coach for two different stints.

He is the fourth event manager to lose their job in less than a day.