2024-01-03 11:00:11
Casting :
Guy Demel (Ivory Coast, 31 caps): participation in CAN 2006 (finalist) and 2010.
Boukary Dramé (Senegal, 15 caps): participation in CAN 2006.
Ousmane Coulibaly (Mali, 26 caps): participation in the CAN 2012 (third place), 2013 (third place), 2015 and 2017.
Mohamed Amoura (Algeria, 19 caps and 5 goals): participation in CAN 2021, summoned for CAN 2023.
Is it necessary to prepare individually for a CAN in January?
Manure : In 2006, I called on a physical trainer and a personal physiotherapist, yes. It was my first CAN, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t overload myself too much when I arrived in Egypt. In these cases, the mistake that some players make is to train non-stop so as not to lose rhythm. The problem is that you overwork yourself and once you get past the first two group matches, you’re already exhausted.
Drama : For my part, I preferred to join the selection directly in Saly, Senegal for collective preparation. I didn’t necessarily feel the need to do individual preparation. We reached Egypt as late as possible. From my experience, the later you start your competition, the better. If you arrive at the tournament venue too early, you risk losing mental energy and becoming jaded before you’ve even started.
Coulibaly : Likewise, in the four tournaments I participated in, I always prepared with the group and not individually. And I completely agree about joining the organizing country at the last moment. In 2012, we spent two weeks in Togo and arrived in Gabon just a few days before the start of the competition. Psychologically, it galvanized us.
How important is temperature change to you?
Amoura : Once you make a series of selections, temperature is no longer a problem. You know what to expect when you arrive on the African continent and you don’t even pay attention to it. You just have to be careful not to overwhelm yourself by trying to exert too much effort immediately.
Coulibaly : As others say, after two or three days your body gets used to it. And sometimes you don’t even feel this change. In 2013, I left Brest to go to South Africa, and the climate was almost similar. In Port Elizabeth it was not at all hot, but very mild. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, on the other hand, required a certain adaptation, because the humidity makes you crazy.
Manure : I finished the first part of the season with Hamburg in sub-zero temperatures, but fortunately in Egypt it wasn’t that hot. It was just the beginning of spring in Cairo. In 2010, on the other hand, the humidity was quite high in Angola, and we had to arrive there two weeks before the start of the competition to get used to it.
Drama: The body gets used to the change in temperature after a few days, so no problem. It is especially viruses that are feared. This is where we must be vigilant, whether it is yellow fever or malaria. As early as 2006, our staff already had well-advanced treatments and informed us precisely of the risks we ran with these diseases. This is essential educational work.
It’s frustrating to see that only the CAN raises so many questions. The South Americans, for example, often play the Copa América until mid-July, so that pushes back their vacations and their club pre-season. However, I have never seen a debate on this.
Guy Demel, ex-international ivoirien
How did you approach the CAN with your clubs?
Coulibaly : In the clubs where I played, I never had the slightest problem. The coaches have always been very clear with me, CAN or not. At Panathinaikos in 2017, the staff even encouraged me to go all out with Mali to have a better second half of the season. And that’s what happened. I probably had the best season of my career.
Manure : At HSV, I never had the slightest problem. Whether it was Bruno Labbadia in 2006 or Thomas Doll in 2010, they always took the time to chat at the start of the season. It’s reassuring, because you don’t live in expectation. Where I felt a little reluctance was at Borussia Dortmund, when I announced to them my desire to represent Ivory Coast. And at West Ham too, a little later. I felt that it was a problem for them to see me regularly go to the selection.
Drama : The French championships are the main suppliers of players, so the clubs know what to expect. This calendar problem happened quite recently I think. Since the multiplication of matches. Before, players would leave for a month and come back without too much problem. Even the injured did not arouse controversy.
Manure : It’s frustrating to see that only the CAN raises so many questions. The South Americans, for example, often play the Copa América until mid-July, so that pushes back their vacations and their club pre-season. However, I have never seen a debate on this.
Given the leg knots, Guy Demel is wrongly named.
How do you manage your start to the season, the CAN years?
Dramé: When you play in a club that plays in the European Cup, it’s certain that you have sufficient pace. In 2006, I didn’t have many matches in my legs with PSG, that’s why I decided to join my teammates directly in Senegal, to start quickly. And CAN can even be a boost. When you are not a club starter but you have a good CAN, you completely restart your season.
Manure : The first part of the season is sufficient preparation for the CAN. Then, you just have to adapt to your coach’s system. The most complicated thing is to switch psychologically from the selection to the club. In 2006, for example, I returned from Cairo with low morale because we lost the CAN final on penalties, against Egypt. But at club, we had an exceptional season, where we finished third in the Bundesliga and qualified for the Champions League.
Amoura : Playing every three days makes things easier. This is my case at the Union Saint-Gilloise and I clearly feel certain benefits, in terms of rhythm and automatisms. When I arrive at the selection, all I will need is to find the connection with the coach’s system. The legs are already ready.
Coulibaly : At the start of the season, you get into the rhythm and above all, you have a special excitement to go and play with your country. Nothing like what you might feel in a club. In 2012, in Brest, it was nonsense (laughs). There were four of us doing the CAN: Moïse Brou Apanga, peace to his soul, with Gabon, Ahmed Kantari with Morocco, Omar Daf for Senegal, and myself. And we had a competition to see who would return to Brest first. They all made fun of me, saying that Mali was too weak. In the end, I came home last and with a bronze medal around my neck.
The selection matches have a special flavor. Pleasure and pride take precedence over everything else. And any African international will tell you the same thing.
Ousmane Coulibaly, ex-Malian international
Doesn’t this sequence of matches constitute a psychological burden?
Manure : Coaches have a vital role. At HSV, coach Thomas Doll was, for example, very attentive. With Timothée Atouba from Cameroon, he always gave us extra days of rest. In selection, preparation can also affect the result. In 2006, Henri Michel prepared us very gently and we reached the final. In 2010 on the other hand, Vahid Halilhodžić killed us (laughs). We only did physical training throughout the prep, under 30 degrees. When we arrived in the quarterfinals against Algeria, we couldn’t even run and we were taken out…
Amoura: As an individual, the most important thing is to make up for the time you lost at club level during the CAN. If you have a good start to the club season, your departure for the CAN will inevitably allow your opponents to come back up to par. So what you need to do is get back into it psychologically as soon as you enter the club.
Drama : The question of the sequence of matches should not arise. In England, they don’t take a break in winter and the players don’t suffer from it. Where we prepare for a competition, they simply return to training. And then when players don’t play enough, they complain, when they play a lot, they complain too (laughs).
Coulibaly : The time we spend on the field in winter, we make up for it in summer by going on vacation longer than the others. So ultimately, even if it is perhaps better to play in summer to satisfy the clubs, in terms of mental load, there is no problem. The selection matches have a special flavor. Pleasure and pride take precedence over everything else. And any African international will tell you the same thing.
So the CAN in January is just as legitimate as a tournament in summer?
Drama : Summer always seems to be the ideal time, because we are used to it from a European point of view. But playing in tropical rain or dry air is complicated. Afterwards, we should perhaps repeat the example of 2019 and see what the players say. But for now, the ideal remains the month of January.
Coulibaly : The CAN suffers from a certain contempt which hurts as an international. It’s our biggest tournament, the one we wait for every two years and to see it being called into question for scheduling issues is a bit painful. Let’s say we take it in summer, how many countries will be able to organize it, both in terms of temperatures and infrastructure? Three or four ?
Manure : From a European point of view, people think it’s mainly an infrastructure problem, but it’s primarily a meteorological problem. When you have countries where in two days, it rains the equivalent of a month in Europe, what do you do? Same in the Maghreb, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees. In Europe, would Sweden organize a tournament in winter for example? Well in Africa it’s the same.
Mali’s list for the CAN, with six Ligue 1 players
All comments collected by AB.
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