Côte d’Ivoire coach Souhalio Haidara is confident that his side have what it takes to emerge victorious against rivals Senegal in their opening match at the TotalEnergies CHAN 2022 on Saturday at the May 19, 1956 stadium in Annaba, Algeria.
The highly anticipated West African derby is expected to produce fine football with the two sides meeting for the first time since the inaugural CHAN edition in 2009 when they met in their last Group A tie with the game ending in a goalless draw.
“We know that this is a West African derby and our people are expecting a show from us here in North Africa. The difference will be in the details. You cannot be in this kind of event without pressure. What we must do well is manage the pressure,” explained Haidara before the match.
“We respect Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo who have won this tournament twice as well as Uganda with whom we are together in Group B. We know we are up against good teams in this group. We will do our best.”
Côte d’Ivoire had mixed results in their friendly games before heading to Algeria losing 3-0 to Mauritania, drawing 1-1 with Cameroon and defeating Libya 1-0 but Haidara thinks that the league games back home will also come in handy in Algeria.
“We had a great local championship which was consistent and had a positive impact on our preparations. We appreciate the initiative of CAF for this kind of competition in order to promote the local leagues in our countries,” Haidara pointed out.
Côte d’Ivoire, who are taking part in this tournament for the fifth time, remain cautious about their objectives.
“We are determined to give the best of ourselves to represent our country well. If we want to stay here until the end, it is about our three group matches then quarterfinals, semifinals and everything in between. We are cautious about what Ivorians expect of us. It is a colossal task ahead of us. Today, we must do everything to move to the next level of this competition.”
Ivorian captain Baudelaire Essis, the midfielder of Asec Mimosas revealed that, “We are calm and focused on ourselves. The objective is the same. We want to take one game after another and in the end achieve our goal. We know we can go out there and encounter something new and different. That is why we are focused on ourselves especially since we are in a fairly strong group.”
