Cote d’Ivoire head coach Emerse Faé warned his squad to maintain their focus as they search for six points over the next five days in 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Burundi and Gambia.
Faé’s charges go into Friday night’s match in Meknes against Burundi in second place in Group F with 10 points following Gabon’s 3-0 win against Seychelles on Thursday night in Franceville which took them two points clear of the African champions.
Burundi and next Tuesday’s adversaries, Gambia, are respectively ranked 93 and 79 places below the Ivorians.
Despite the disparity, Faé said his men should not take victory for granted.
“We have to play seriously and come out with our heads held high,” added the former Ivorian international.
“Our task is simple. We need to emerge from the next two games with the slight advantage we had before. We must not take the teams lightly.”
Challenge
During the 2023 Cup of Nations, the Ivorians recovered from a chaotic start to grind their way to the final and beat Nigeria.
Faé, who was appointed just before the final match of the group stages, has steered the squad to the 2025 Cup of Nations in Morocco where they will attempt to become the first nation since Egypt in 2010 to defend the continental crown.
“We closed one page last November by qualifying for the 2025 Cup of Nations,” said Faé when announcing his squad for the matches against Burundi and Gambia.
“And we’re here to move towards qualification for the 2026 World Cup which will be an important achievement for Ivorian football. “It’s an obligation for us and we must not fall short.”
The Ivorians last featured at the World Cup when it was held in Brazil in 2014. It was their third consecutive appearance at the quadrennial event and, like in the other two in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010, they failed to emerge from the group stages.
National teams missed out on the two following editions.
Nigeria’s finest are in jeopardy of falling short. They lie in fifth place with three points from their four games and play at Group C pacesetters Rwanda on Friday night knowing that defeat could detonate their chances of the automatic berth reserved for the winners of the nine African qualifying groups.
Both sides will be parading new coaches.
Adel Amrouche will feature in Rwanda’s dugout after replacing Torsten Spittler earlier this month. The former Mali boss Eric Chelle will lead Nigeria.
The 47-year-old took over from interim coach Augustine Eguavoen in January with the mission from the Nigeria football federation to guide the side to the next World Cup.
“Of course I’ve analysed why it didn’t go well for the team before my appointment,” Chelle told RFI.
“I’ll continue to analyse the reasons. But what’s done is done. I’m here to impose a state of mind and to impose a game plan. Ultimately, what interests me is nothing more or less than tomorrow and seeing how my players adapt to this game plan. I know I’m not going to have much time.”
On Thursday night in the group, Benin drew 2-2 with Zimbabwe to go top with eight points.
Elsewhere, Cape Verde beat Mauritius 1-0 to exploit Cameroon’s goalless stalemate against Eswatini on Wednesday and take control of Group D.
In Group I, Comoros fluffed their chance to claim pole position. Mali beat them 3-0 to move to within two points of pacesetters Madagascar.
Record
Morocco, who in Qatar became the first African squad to reach the semis at a World Cup, go into Friday night’s encounter against Niger as the only team with a 100 percent record in the African qualifiers.
Head coach Walid Regragui orchestrated the historic surge to glory just over two years ago and has drafted 19-year-old Chemsdine Talbi and 22-year-old Hamza Igamane into the squad to inject some zest to the attack and reward their exploits with Club Brugge and Rangers respectively.
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“The goal is to qualify for the World Cup and to do it as quickly as possible,” said Wagragui on the eve of the clash at the Stade d’honneur d’Oudja.
“We’re playing against Niger and Tanzania and we want to do well to achieve our goals swiftly.”
Africa could have as many as 10 teams competing in the 2026 World Cup.
After the nine group winners qualify automatically, the four best second-placed sides from the nine pools will participate in an African play-off for the right to enter a tournament with teams from five other confederations.
They will battle for two spots for the finals which take place between 11 June and 19 July in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
