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Yaya Touré: “Senegal can do well at the World Cup”

The Ivorian Yaya Touré, during the draw for a 2022 World Cup of which he became an ambassador.

DeFodi Images via Getty Images - DeFodi Images

Text by: David Kalfa Follow |

Nicolas Bamba Follow

12 mins

On April 1, Yaya Touré became ambassador for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18).

The Ivorian praises the merits of this unusual World Cup.

An edition where the ex-midfielder would see the Senegal of Sadio Mané shine in particular.

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RFI: Yaya Touré, the 2022 Football World Cup begins in five months in Qatar (November 21-December 18).

Do you expect a very open World Cup, with surprises, or rather a World Cup with big favorites still present?

Yaya Touré:

Both!

A big World Cup with surprises.

It will be played in November-December, which is a first for this kind of competition which is usually played in June-July.

All the players will be physically fit, that's very important.

And also, the competition will be played for the first time in a Muslim country, which is historic.

A small country like Qatar will welcome many countries, it's incredible.

When I went to

, I saw that travel will be very short compared to previous World Cups, in Brazil, South Africa, Russia, where we traveled two or three hours, sometimes four hours. .. It was a bit difficult physically, because we were at the end of the season, in June.

The best team will win.

She will be the one who will dominate all her opponents.

There, we will have a super temperature which will be controlled in the stadiums.

It will be around 24°C.

Physically and mentally, the players will be on top because they will have just finished their pre-season, will only have one or two months of the championship in their legs.

They will physically grow in strength.

A (RE) READ ► 2022 World Cup: match schedule and results

What are the favorite teams?

We always expect teams like Brazil, Argentina, France or England to come out of a very good tournament where they finished disappointed in the final

.

I believe they will go far.

Let's not forget Germany, a very serious team that we know well;

they always do very good things at the World Cup.

Spain too.

Belgium, we don't really know, but it's a team that is gaining momentum in Europe and is first in the FIFA world rankings.

I think there will be very playful teams and outsiders behind who will be waiting for opportunities.

In all competitions, we always have one or two teams like that, which scare everyone.

This World Cup will be special.

I have faith in the organization of Qatar.

From what I've seen, the facilities, the security, the welcome, it will be exceptional.

A (RE) READ ► Will Qatar remain the Eldorado of football after the 2022 World Cup?

And can the Qatar national team surprise?

I don't know her as such, but I saw her during the Arab Cup

.

It's a great team, player, which puts a lot of intensity.

The World Cup will be played at home, so it will be the flagship country, the one on which the eyes of the world will be trained.

There will be a lot of enthusiasm, desire and passion because it will be the first time that the World Cup will be played there […].

Côte d'Ivoire is not qualified for this 2022 World Cup. Is this a disappointment for you, a new setback for Ivorian football?

Yes.

At the moment, the national team is very young.

To tell the truth, we can't ask a lot of him mentally and in terms of maturity.

This team needs stability.

A new coach arrived not long ago

It may take some time but I'm sure we'll get there.

After the golden generation – my brother (Kolo), Didier (Drogba), Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, me – there was a big hole behind.

You have to be patient with them.

It is true that it will not be easy.

Ivory Coast still qualified for three World Cups in a row, which was not easy.

Maybe next time the youngsters will overcome this.

We'll see.

With Côte d'Ivoire, you played three World Cups in a row, including the first in 2006. Looking back, what did the Elephants miss to get through the first round?

Everything was there, but when you look at the hens

, you can't complain too much.

It was already a pleasure to play against Brazil and Argentina.

In 2006, we were in the Argentina group with players like Roberto Ayala, Lionel Messi, Hernan Crespo... They were big players.

We prefer to play in the World Cup against Argentina than against an unknown team.

But when you fall into a pool with Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia, it's not easy anyway!

We were a young team, we didn't have enough experience at international level.

We almost never had the chance to fall into a good hen.

We wanted to put on a good show but it wasn't easy because there were big experienced players, real machines.

We had the right attitude but against these teams you had to be very focused for 95 minutes.

Players like Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo could make the difference in no time.

Is there one of the five African teams that can surprise Qatar?

In group A, there are Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands.

I think Senegal are a very good team in Africa right now.

She has just been crowned African champion, she can put on a good face.

But you have to stay focused, not underestimate teams like Ecuador and Qatar.

The Netherlands are favorites in this group but Senegal have a good shot to play.

As for Tunisia, they are in the pool of France and Denmark.

It's still tough though.

It will not be easy and it will be quite difficult for the Tunisians.

Then you have Group G with Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia and Cameroon.

I believe that the Cameroonians are a little more or less badly crossed because they have a strong group.

It will be very very difficult.

Then you have Ghana, which is with Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.

I think it will still be quite difficult too because the Uruguayans are regulars, the Portuguese too.

I believe that Ghana can still perhaps make a good figure, even create a surprise.

You never know… But seeing what Tunisia and Cameroon will do is quite difficult.

Finally, there is Morocco which is in a group where it can pass.

You have Belgium, Canada and Croatia.

Morocco have a good shot to play, I think, even if Croatia are a big team, a big machine.

Anything can happen in this group.

For me, Senegal is more or less well placed.

For me, it's fun.

But Ecuador should not be underestimated.

I'm always afraid of the South American teams because they are very playful, very difficult to get around.

They are used to playing against teams like Argentina and Brazil.

They have the ability to stop these big nations.

If they are at the World Cup, it is not by chance, it is because they deserve it.

But I want Senegal to pass, as well as Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia.

But it won't be easy.

In the Senegal team, there is a star player, Sadio Mané, who is coming out of a very high level season with Liverpool and Senegal.

Can this World Cup be his World Cup?

I think so.

There, he has just been transferred from a big club to a big club, since he is leaving a big machine and a great coach in Liverpool for Bayern Munich.

And then there is the World Cup.

He knows he will be eagerly awaited.

We see that Senegal has a fairly strong workforce with many players playing in big teams in Europe.

We see Kalidou Koulibaly in Naples, an already confirmed player, sought after by all the big clubs, who is among the best in the world.

There is Gana Gueye who plays in Paris.

It's a bit like the Ivory Coast of the time when we played the CAN and the World Cup.

There is also Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who won the Champions League... Next to him, Sadio Mané has all these interesting players.

I see that he has chained a lot of matches, that he has suffered from very few injuries.

He is hardly ever injured, he is very strong physically.

He's also a good guy, a good person that I know personally.

I want the best for him, I hope he will have a good tournament.

And I hope he won't just be ranked high but win the Ballon d'Or.

Sadio Mané is a great player and a great person.

This World Cup will be played in November-December.

You yourself experienced somewhat similar situations with these African Nations Cups which were held in January-February.

Is it really very different to play in the final phase of a major tournament in the middle of the season rather than in June-July?

Yes, for me there is a big difference.

Take the English Premier League: if you play all the matches, including Boxing Day, and so on until the end of the season, you arrive dull, tired.

Well, it also depends on the staff of each country.

There, the World will be played in November.

The preseason will start for some clubs in early July.

Afterwards, there will be two or three months of the championship where the players will be in their legs, where the players will gain in power, in physics.

Arriving in November, they will be in top physical and mental shape […]

This will be the last 32-team World Cup.

For you, which is better: a World Cup with 32 teams or 48 teams?

When a World Cup is played at the end of the season, it's quite difficult physically.

And if we go up to 48 teams, it will be a bit complicated.

It will be longer and I don't think it will give more excitement.

But things are moving forward.

We can expect that tomorrow, Fifa will decide to add one more player to the competition, to make it more attractive or to have more competition between the teams.

We'll see.

We were used to 32 teams, it was not bad, it was even quite good.

When you arrive at the end of the season with almost 60 matches under your belt and the competition arrives with I don't know how many more matches, it's difficult for the body.

I have experienced it.

We will see what will be decided after the World Cup in Qatar.

Finally, you became a coach.

Would you like to be a coach in Qatar, as the Algerian Djamel Belmadi, another former Manchester City, was?

At the moment, I'm not complaining because I work with the Tottenham Academy.

I think I still have a lot to learn.

I don't want to skip the steps.

Many people ask me about the possibility of starting to coach with a senior team […], like Vincent Kompany [ex-Belgian defender of Manchester City, nldr] who started at Anderlecht and who is now at Burnley.

For me, it all depends on the weather.

For the moment, I don't have a proposal from Qatar!

But we never know.

As I am a true believer, for me this is the most important time.

At the moment, I'm at the Tottenham Academy where I'm having fun, where I'm learning a lot alongside experienced coaches who have worked in the Premier League, in the Championship

and around the world.

Being next to them helps me a lot.

It allows me to understand a lot of things, to know the industry.

I knew the industry as a player, of course, but as a coach, it's something totally different.

When I worked in Russia and Ukraine as an assistant, I felt the difference.

But it's not obvious enough, that's why I take the time to learn with young people.

Afterwards, if there is a possibility of going to Qatar to improve my skills, why not?

But there is no offer at the moment and I prefer to move forward step by step, staying close to the family and the people who support me.

I want to start slowly.

Player, I wanted to be like this as a coach: a leader who wins and helps the development of players.

And so far, things are going well with Tottenham.

[1] Argentina, Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands in 2006, Brazil, North Korea and Portugal in 2010, Colombia, Greece and Japan in 2014.

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