Cote d’Ivoire coach Herve Renard has named his final 23-man squad for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Equatorial Guinea 2015 preferring to stay with his old guns.
The Frenchman includes Africa Cup of Nations veterans and familiar faces such as captain Yaya Toure and elder brother Kolo, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Boubacar Barry and Cheick Tiote in his final squad for the 17 January to 8 February 2015.
But for Newcastle midfielder Tiote, the other five have featured in the Elephants’ four previous campaigns at the biennial championship. The only surviving duo from the Ivorian squad for the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, defender Toure and goalkeeper Barry, are the most experienced, this being the seventh time they have been named for the continental showpiece event.
There was, however, no place for left-back Arthur Boka and defender Souleymane Bamba, who both played bit-part role in the qualifying campaign.
Sewe Sport, local champions and losing finalists in the 2014 Orange CAF Confederation Cup have two players in the squad; goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo and offensive midfielder, Roger Assale.
According to the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF), the Elephants will hold a training camp from 5-16 January 2015 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to prepare for the championship.
They are housed in Group D with four-time winners, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali
and Guinea.
Full Squad
Goalkeepers: Gbohouo Sylvain (Séwé Sport), Mande Sayouba (Staebek,
Norway), Boubacar Barry (Lokeren, Belgium)
Defenders: Serge Aurier (PSG, France), Siaka Tiene (Montpellier,
France), Ousmane Viera (Rizespor, Turkey), Kolo Toure (Liverpool,
England), Wilfried Kanon (Ado Den Hag, Netherlands), Eric Bertrand
Bailly (Espanyol, Spain), Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro (Toulouse, France)
Midfielders: Diomandé Ishmael (St Etienne, France), Yaya Toure
(Manchester City, England), Geoffrey Serey Die (FC Basel,
Switzerland), Cheick Doukouré (Metz, France), Cheick Tiote (Newcastle,
England), Max Gradel (St Etienne, France), Assalé Roger (Séwé Sport)
Forwards: Gervinho (AS Roma, Italy), Salomon Kalou (Hertha Berlin,
Germany), Lacina Traore (Monaco, France), Junior Tallo (Bastia,
France), Wilfried Bony (Swansea, England), Seydou Doumbia (CSKA
Moscow, Russia )
