Izuchukwu OkosiSenegal national team coach and former AFCON star, Aliou Cisse, on Monday evening expressed his utmost satisfaction with his team’s performance in their opening game of Group C in the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
Opening games in Groups A and B of the 34th edition of the tournament has seen the supposedly weaker teams causing upsets and either won or drew their games with traditional strong African sides.
Senegal would however not succumb to that embarrassing outcome and emphatically beat The Gambia 3-0 in Yamoussoukro.
Speaking to the media in his post match press conference, Cisse said:
“I am very satisfied with the performance of the players, especially since things were difficult given the climatic conditions and heat that we faced.
“We will continue to work hard on a few things that need to be rectified but overall, I am very happy with this victory,” said the coach who was part of the Teranga Lions that post 11-10 to Cameroon on penalty shootouts in the final of the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Mali.
On the young sensation, Lamine Camara who put up a TotalEnergies Man of the Match performance on his TotalEnergies CAF AFCON debut and scored a screamer from outside the penalty box, Cisse boldly stated that it was his time to shine.
“Lamine Camara is a young player, and his time has come. He scored two goals against Gambia and gave a distinguished performance on the field. The young player must be trusted and developed.”
Cisse has a word of comfort for the Gambians.
“It is not over for Gambia after losing in the first match. They can correct it, just like what happened to us in the World Cup where we lost our first match in the group stage. They can still turn things around” urged the coach
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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