Ivory Coast manager wont let players play in FA Cup

Yaya Toure will miss the FA Cup game as Ivory Coast manager has called all his players up.

Bye bye Cheik.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/16425919.stm

Ivory Coast coach Francois Zahoui has rejected Manchester City's request to play Yaya and Kolo Toure in Sunday's Manchester derby in the FA Cup.

"Clubs know the rules," Zahoui told BBC Africa. "I'm expecting them [the Toures] for the Fifa deadline."

City boss Mancini had asked Zahoui if the Toure brothers could play on Sunday before joining the Ivory Coast camp.

Under Fifa rules, players can be called up two weeks before the competition, which starts on 21 January.

City and United, currently first and second in the Premier League respectively, are meeting at Etihad Stadium in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

But Zahoui has insisted they report for a meeting in Paris on Saturday before the squad flies out to Abu Dhabi for a two-week training camp, starting on Sunday.

His tough stance will also affect Arsenal forward Gervinho, Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote and Chelsea forwards Didier Drobga and Salomon Kalou, who will all miss their clubs' FA Cup third round ties this weekend.

"The national team in Ivory Coast is led by people who are well educated and I was surprised that people in England think that we don't know the Fifa rules about dates," Zahoui added.

"Here, when we call-up the players, they are obliged to turn up at the date indicated by Fifa. So when we call them up we know that the clubs need to let them go."

Zahoui revealed that he had travelled to England to discuss the matter with Mancini and Wenger.

"I said to the managers, 'Be careful because there's a great expectation here and we need our cohesion and we have our 10 days together and we need a team spirit at our training camp'.

"Arsene Wenger was my coach [at Nancy in France] so we have a close, respectful relationship. But even with him I said that the head of the Ivorian federation won't mess about. Don't turn this into a stand-off.

"So our call-up day is 7 January. I hope and pray they respect this date and that there's not a conflict between clubs and the federation."

The Toure brothers are pivotal players for Manchester City and both started in the 3-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool on Tuesday night.

Yaya, whose powerful drives from midfield are a feature of City's attacking play, scored the winner in both the FA Cup semi-final and final last season, and has six goals in his last 13 games.

Kolo has displaced Joleon Lescott at the heart of City's defence since returning from a six-month ban for failing a drugs test.

Gervinho has made 24 appearances for Arsenal this season since signing for £10.5m from Lille.

Tiote has been central to Newcastle's impressive Premier League season so far, starring in the team's 3-0 victory over Manchester United on Wednesday night.

Drogba and Kalou have scored nine goals between them for Chelsea this season.

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations includes 16 teams competing in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea between 21 January and 12 February.

 

Give Abeid a start v Blackburn Pards, you know it makes sense!

 

I'm surprised managers even tried. I never saw them being allowed to keep the players any longer.

 

Agree.

 

Shock horror as national manager states his players must report for duty on date specified by international governing body.

In other news; the Pope is a Catholic and bears **** in the woods.

 

Fully expect Ben Arfa to start that one.

 

Not if no one's there to hear it...

Anyway, perfect time for Guthrie, Abeid and HBA to step up.

 

i think fifa should be made to cover costs for players leaving for tournaments.

its a bit ridiculous that clubs pay out all these fees for players and massive wages yet players can just be plucked away from clubs for training camps.

if Ba gets injured during the ACoN our season goes tits up and can cost us millions.. all the risk is with the clubs yet they have no say on these things

 

I think you should get that checked out.

 

There is insurance for injuries sustained on international duty, we got some money from the FA when Owen did his knee playing for England.

 

What a nasty selfish prick this manager is. How dare he call up Cheik and others for national duty, and expect them to turn up on time. Newcastle and the PL should come first and this stupid little african nations tournament abandoned. What a clever cock actually taking the time to understand the rules and what their rights are instead of just letting our money laiden clubs trample on them.

In all seriousness though as long as any nation applies the same criteria to any played called, there should be no arguments.

 

Yeah i know about that but it was our FA.. like i didnt mind that because our FA can afford it... it could potentially ruin african federations if they have to pay out massive sums for the likes of a Ba, Drogba or Toure. so i think fifa should have to pay out.. they are the route of the problem.

but even compensation isnt always adequate say with us and the FA Cup.. we are in it so can potentially win it which would be huge for the club.. we have a risk of loosing out with europe too.

but like this... they cant make a match because they have to attend a meeting in paris.. bit of bollocks really

 

Got this tournemant next year as well, ugh.

 

are they trying to move it to a summer tournament or something like that... thats why they are having another so soon? cant remember the details

 

I think the plan is to move it to the summer in odd-numbered years, so that it goes ACON / Euros / ACON / World Cup.
Which helps the European clubs but I don't know how the seasons work in Africa so I'd have no idea if it's good from their perspective...

EDIT: Wiki!

 

Apparently they're moving it to odd years so it's not held in the same year as a World Cup. From what I can gather though, they're still going to be held in January/February.

 

Can't blame them. They're allowed to do it, and they want as much time as possible to prepare their players for a major tournament.

 

Is Tavernier back for the cup game?

 

No. I posted a thread on him a few days ago, he plays for Sheffield Wednesday this weekend then his loan expires. They want to extend it by all accounts but nothing confirmed yet.

 

Forgot about him, I enjoyed the USA friendly tour against Columbus (I think) when the mad commentator overly pronounced his name "Ta-verrrr-neee-YAAAAYYY"!