Ivory Coast won and qualified for the quarterfinals at the African
Cup of Nations on Friday.
Coach Vahid Halilhodzic still wasn't impressed by the
refereeing.
Ivory Coast, which won its sole African title in 1992, became
the first team to reach the knockout phase with a 3-1 win over
Ghana.
Halilhodzic, the former Lille coach, praised his team's goals
but didn't savor the decisions by South African ref Jerome Damon,
who sent off defender Emmanuel Eboue for a reckless tackle on
Agyemang Opoku in the 56th minute and awarded Ghana a penalty in
stoppage time after Souleman Bamba brushed Asamoah Gyan.
"I'm really angry against the refereeing," Halilhodzic said.
"It's too much now. We are going to discuss the matter with the
federation's officials to see what we can do about this."
The Elephants had already been penalized by a refereeing
error in their 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso when striker Didier
Drogba was denied a penalty.
Halilhodzic also blamed the turf's poor quality that
"hampered attacking teams" in Cabinda but said he would be happy to
stay in the northern town for the quarterfinals. Ivory Coast will
have to move to Luanda if it finishes second in the three-team
Group B.
"We've found our marks here and I would prefer to stay," he
said.
Ivory Coast won't play its quarterfinal until Jan. 24, and
Halilhodzic said he will try to schedule a friendly for his players
in the interval to keep them fit.
"Ten days without playing, this is not good," he said. "We
have to play a match but we haven't found an opponent yet."
The Bosnian coach added that the team needed to rest after
playing two difficult matches in very hot temperatures.
"This is really demanding," he said. "And this pitch doesn't
help."
