Sport
Africa cup of Nations 2012 Update: Ivory Coast advance to semis
Disappointingly, the home fans began to desert the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo after the second goal – a harsh judgment from the crowd in view of the team’s earlier heroics.
“I was disappointed with the people in Malabo because of that,” Alvarez said. “They started to leave instead of giving the team more encouragement.”
Now the focus turns on Equatorial Guinea’s footballing future. The No. 151-ranked team has never played in a World Cup and only qualified for this African Cup by co-hosting the tournament with neighbor Gabon.
Paulo said he hoped to build on his promising start in charge.
“I’ve a contract with the national team for one year. I intend to complete this contract,” he said. “We have World Cup qualifying matches and lots of other games to play and I can see the work is having an effect.”
The Brazilian said he would send for his family to join him after the tournament had finished. “I’ve been too busy and had so many things to do, it wouldn’t have been fair to bring them now,” he said.
“It’s important that the project with the coach continues,” agreed defender Rui Da Gracia, whose mistake allowed Drogba to open the scoring in the quarterfinal. “I hope he stays on because that will help the team to keep growing.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
