Salomon Kalou says he and his Cote d’ Ivoire teammates will give their utmost to lift some form of silverware that has so far eluded the greatest generation of Ivoirien footballers to date.
Despite hosting a star-studded side that included the pedigree of Didier Drogba, the Toure brothers and Didier Zokora, the Elephants could only finish within inches of silverware, finish runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2012.
The team also failed to make it past the group stages in the 2006 and 2010 World Cup, and with the experienced generation of Ivoiriens set to play out its final appearance in the tournament, Kalou says he is hungry for some piece of success.
“People would like to see that generation winning something,” the Lille winger told BBC Sport.
“The generation of Drogba, Didier Zokora and Kolo are a little bit older than us, but what they did so well was to bring the team to their level because nobody did it before; Cote d’ Ivoire had never qualified for a World Cup before that generation.
“I think they have done brilliantly for the country. Today Cote d’ Ivoire is the highest ranked African team on FIFA’s list, so that’s a big achievement.
“We have one dream and that is to win something together I think because we’ve worked so hard to get to this level, it would be important to achieve something together, it’s so important for our generation and also the country.”
Cote d’ Ivoire has been drawn in its easiest World Cup group to date, with Greece, Japan and Colombia standing in their way.
No comments
Post a Comment