ARLINGTON, Texas, June 30 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae says inexperience let down his youthful side as they gave away a goal four minutes from time to exit the World Cup at the hands of Norway on Tuesday.
Erling Haaland’s goal earned Norway a 2-1 victory after the Ivory Coast had got themselves back into the game with a superb equaliser from Amad Diallo following Antonio Nusa’s equally well-struck first-half finish.
The Ivorians dominated large parts of the match but were let down by poor touches and finishing.
“It’s difficult to lose, you know, in the last few minutes, it's difficult to find the right words, because my players fought from the very first minutes until the very last minute,” said Fae in a brief post-match press conference.
“We've learned a lot, thanks to this competition. It was the very first World Cup for many players, and maybe we were lacking in maturity,” added Fae, the coach in charge when the Ivorians won the Africa Cup of Nations in early 2024.
Fae said that the Ivory Coast should have tightened up at the back after their 74th-minute equaliser from Diallo.
“Maybe we should have tried to make it until the extra time, but when you're playing this type of team, you know, as soon as they get the slightest opportunity to score, well, they take it, and that's what happened this afternoon,” he added.
“I believe that when you're playing this type of team, you need to be pragmatic. When you have an opportunity, you need to be extremely precise, and you need to also remain very solid in your defence, and not give the slightest opportunity to this type of team, because they've got very good quality players, and they make the most of the slightest mistake or moment where you don't pay attention.
“We really made a very big effort to score and we had the psychological advantage but we then wanted to score a second goal quickly, and they re-opened spaces and made the most of it.”
The Ivory Coast were participating in the knockouts for the first time, having failed to get past the group stage in their three previous appearances.
It was also their first World Cup since 2014. They finished second in their group behind Germany, after beating both Ecuador and Curacao.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Toby Davis)
