Vahid Halilhodzic believes he was sacrificed by political
authorities after being fired as coach by the Ivory Coast football
federation just months before the World Cup.
Halilhodzic, who was expected to lead the Elephants in South
Africa, was dismissed after his team lost to Algeria in the African
Cup of Nations quarterfinals. This loss was Halilhodzic's first in
24 matches.
"Our goal was to win the CAN and politicians started to put
the pressure on us," Halilhodzic said Monday. "That was the
president's message. We absolutely had to win. I don't really know
why (they fired me), but they had to sacrifice somebody. And they
were not going to sacrifice the players or officials from the team.
It was the coach."
Last January in Angola, Ivory Coast wasted a 2-1 lead in
injury time before losing to Algeria 3-2 after extra time.
"Until then, I was the best coach in the history of Ivory
Coast," Halilhodzic said. "Eight minutes changed everything. But I
knew perfectly well that it could happen when I accepted the
mission."
The Bosnian coach also told L'Equipe TV channel that the
deadly attack on Togo's national team that left two people dead
before the African Cup distracted his players from their quest to
win the tournament.
"The team was really touched," Halilhodzic said. "Some
players couldn't sleep anymore, others stopped eating. It was
confusing."
Halilhodzic added he was not ready to start training again
even if he received a three-year offer "from an English club"
during the CAN.
Ivory Coast is now chasing Guus Hiddink for the upcoming
World Cup. Hiddink, who guided Russia to the semifinals of the 2008
European Championship, coached South Korea at the World Cup in 2002
and Australia in 2006.
In Tokyo, media reports say that former Japan coach Philippe
Troussier is set to take over as coach.
The 54-year-old Troussier has also been in charge of Nigeria,
Qatar and Morocco and currently serves as general manager of Japan
Football League team FC Ryukyu.
On Tuesday, Sven-Goran Eriksson's agent said the former
England coach was unlikely to take charge of the Ivory Coast team
at the World Cup.
"I don't think the Swedes need to get very excited about the
link to the Ivory Coast. I don't think he (Eriksson) will coach
them this summer," Athole Still told Sweden's TV4 Web site. "It's
correct that we met the Ivory Coast association. But we were there
to see their match against South Korea, and we met their
association, too. So this has been blown up from nothing."
The Elephants will play in the same group as Brazil, Portugal
and North Korea at the June 11-July 11 tournament.
