Reportage
CHAN 2023: for local coaches, the call of the nation is stronger than that of the foreigner
Alioum Saïdou, coach of the Cameroon team.
© Pierre René-Worms / RFI
Text by: Ndiasse Sambe Follow
3 mins
If the CHAN constitutes a good exposure for the local players who dream of contracts abroad, for the selectors, it is initially a question of pride and national missions.
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From our special envoy in Algiers,
“
Like any young local player, I want to win contracts abroad.
We play these matches with the ambition to make a good competition and, then, we hope that there will be recruiters who will see us
.
The captain of the national team of Mali, Makan Samabaly said aloud... what everyone was already thinking "aloud".
Winning a contract with a club abroad, mainly Europe and Gulf countries, is the goal of the hundreds of local players who are present at CHAN 2023 in Algeria.
Far from the motivations of his player, the Malian coach Nouhoum Diané chose the national preference.
“
Me, I have a specific objective
”, insists the one who has trained almost all the big Malian clubs
.
“
The country trusted me to be in the national team.
I have a duty to my country.
You cannot imagine the number of countries that have requested me.
I never agreed to leave.
I am in Mali, I stay in Mali
.
»
The call of the nation is also very important for Senegal coach Pape Thiaw.
“
For me, the most important thing is the country.
The country comes first.
I want to do something for my country as a coach, like I did when I was a player
.
»
"
Transmit, help, accompany"
Most local national coaches believe they have a mission: to serve their country by guiding the steps of their players.
"
The goal for us is to pass on what we have learned
," says Indomitable Lions coach Alioum Saidou.
“
Our ambition is to make these children progress so that they can leave with the necessary baggage
”.
The Ivorian Soualiho Haidara, who has already coached the U20s and U23s of his country before taking on the local Elephants, does not say the opposite.
“
Transmitting, helping, supporting, that's my role.
It is true that it is not the same philosophy with young people where we do detection and training.
Today, I have adults, mature players, that I have to accompany to get results.
If thanks to our work and their performance, they manage to get a contract, then good for them.
That's all we want.
»
The wish of the Congolese Jean Élie Ngoya Obackas, for his part, is to grow at the same time as his team and to be noticed with great performances at CHAN "
I told my players: 'you have already opened a page of the 'story".
It's up to them how to write it.
On sand?
In silver letters?
In gold letters?
This way of thinking is also valid for me.
I know that I am not well known at the African level, so I have the same ambition.
»
CHAN 2023 in Algeria: Schedule and results
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Algeria
CHAN 2023