The manager of the Ivory Coast national football team, Sabri Lamouchi, has made it clear that Didier Drogba’s international career is not over yet and he will be back playing for the national team soon.
Didier Drogba hasn’t represented his country after the African Nations Cup. There have been reports that he doesn’t have a good tuning with the manager and that’s why, he is out of the team, but, Lamouchi has denied those reports.
Talking to the reporters about Drogba’s return, Lamouchi said, “I didn’t have any dispute with him. His exclusion was purely based on form and fitness. He had a very tough last year. He went to China where he found that the standard of play was not as high as he was anticipating. He lost a bit of spark playing there and he was not at his best at all in the African Cup of Nations. So, we decided to give him a break.”
“But, towards the end of the season, he looked good playing for Fenerbahce. There was a spring in his stride which was nice to see.”
“Didier has a lot of experience in international football and it would be wonderful to have him back for our remaining World Cup qualifying matches.”
Lamouchi has been criticized by the football experts in Africa recently for not including experienced players in the squad. According to the experts, Ivory Coast will struggle against quality opponents because of the lack of experience in their squad.
When asked about that, Lamouchi said, “Criticism doesn’t bother me that much. The fact is that we have done pretty well so far in the World Cup qualifiers. Yes, I know that we still need some improvements and we are working hard for that.”